1  f  I  iRkT  i,  p»DDimi 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REFORMATION 


THE 

PERIOD  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

1517   TO    1648 

BY  LUDWIG  HAUSSER 


EDITED  B\ 

WILHELM   ONCKEN 

PROFESSOR   OF   HISTORY  AT   THE    UNIVERSITY  OF   GEISSEN 

TRANSLATED  BY  MRS.  G.  STURGE 


NEW  YORK 

ROBERT    CARTER    &    BROTHERS 
530,   BROADWAY 


LONDON : 

PRINTED  BY  J.  S.  VIRTUE  AND  CO.,   LIMITED.. 
CITY  ROAD. 


PREFACE. 


HPHIS  history  of  the  period  from  1517-1648  forms  part 
of  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  history  of  the  three 
centuries,  1517-1789,  which  Hausser  used  to  deliver  at 
Heidelberg  in  the  winter,  and  which,  during  the  winter 
half-year  1859-60, 1  took  down  in  shorthand. 

They  were  preceded  by  an  Introduction,  which  treated  in 
broad  outline  the  history  of  the  period  preceding  the 
Reformation;  but,  unfortunately,  I  did  not  take  it  down. 
This  was  followed  by  a  brief  review  of  the  history  of  the 
European  States  from  1648-1789.  Nothing  has  been  decided 
as  to  the  publication  of  this ;  but  among  Hausser's  remains 
there  are  ample  materials  for  working  it  up. 

The  text  which  I  now  give  to  the  public  has  originated  in 
essentially  the  same  manner  as  that  of  the  history  of  the 
French  Revolution  which  appeared  last  year,  and  which  has 
been  received  by  the  German  press  with  unanimous  ap- 
proval. But  in  this  case  my  MS.  has  had  to  form  still  more 
exclusively  the  groundwork  of  the  narrative  ;  for  not  a  single 
MS.  has  come  to  hand  in  answer  to  a  public  appeal ;  and 
in  consequence  of  the  scanty  material  left,  I  have  been 
compelled  to  have  independent  recourse  to  the  literature 
referred  to,  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  was  necessary  in 
the  former  case.  There  was  full  material  for  three  sec- 
tions only,  and  these  could  not  be  adopted  unaltered  :  for 


2224073 


VI  PREFACE. 

Philip  of  Hesse,  Maurice  of  Saxony,  and  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  1632-48,  which  had  only  been  cursorily  treated  in  the 
lectures.  With  these  exceptions,  for  all  the  other  sections 
that  were  wanting  in  completeness  I  was  obliged  to  refer  to 
the  most  important  sources  and  materials.  Such  supple- 
mentary matter  is  introduced  in  many  places  in  order  to 
complete  characteristic  descriptions  and  narratives  by  adding 
specially  distinctive  features,  serving  te  authenticate  the 
statements  in  the  text ;  but  it  is  only  in  the  most  important 
cases  that  they  are  indicated  by  notes.  Besides  frequent 
interpolations,  which  I  could  not  specially  indicate,  most  of 
the  passages  in  quotation  marks  have  been  inserted  by  me. 
I  need  not  say  that  my  additions  are  not  derived  from  the 
views  or  judgments  of  foreign  historians,  but  always  from 
original  contemporary  testimony.  As  a  whole  and  in  detail, 
all  that  has  been  aimed  at  is  what  Hausser  would  himself 
have  done  could  he  have  prepared  a  text  for  publication. 

I  lay  claim  to  the  predicate  of  a  verbatim  reproduction 
of  these  lectures,  as  in  the  case  of  the  history  of  the  French 
Revolution.  I  have  proceeded  precisely  in  the  same  way 
in  preparing  them  for  publication,  and  have  received  express 
and  ample  testimony  from  many  former  hearers  of  Hausser 
that  I  have  succeeded  in  finding  the  right  method.  Neverthe- 
less, I  must  remind  those  who  have  never  undertaken  a 
similar  task,  of  the  great  difference  between  words  heard 
and  read.  'For  this  difference,  with  which  a  speaker  is 
perfectly  familiar,  and  which  is  especially  striking  when 
there  is  a  gift  for  improvisation,  the  shorthand  writer  must 
have  a  practised  eye.  In  most  cases  it  is  indispensable 
to  give  a  certain  finish  in  the  choice  of  words  and  con- 
struction of  sentences  in  preparing  for  the  press.  If  the 
speaker  does  not  give  it  himself,  the  shorthand  writer  must 
take  it  in  hand,  and  must  be  guided  by  tact.  No  rules 


PREFACE.  vii 

can  be  laid  down,  but  it  is  not  unnecessary  to  call  attention 
to  it. 

The  consciousness  of  the  great  responsibility  which  rested 
on  my  shoulders  occasioned  me  to  plead,  in  the  preface  to 
the  history  of  the  French  Revolution,  for  a  lenient  judg- 
ment. I  repeat  the  request  now,  but  with  more  confidence, 
for  I  judge  with  pleasure  from  the  appreciative  notices  of 
the  most  eminent  organs  of  our  press,  that  that  which  I 
proffered  before  was  not  made  in  vain. 

And  so  I  send  forth  this  second  posthumous  production 
of  Hausser's  mind,  hoping  that,  like  the  other,  it  will  find 
its  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  German  people,  to  whom  he 
belonged  with  every  fibre  of  his  being. 

W.  ONCKEN. 

HEIDELBERG,  July  yd,  1868. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


TT  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  more  than  a  very  few 
words  in  introducing  this  work,  by  the  late  eminent 
German  historian,  Professor  Hausser,  to  English  readers. 
It  contains  not  only  a  spirited  sketch  of  the  history  of  the 
Reformation  in  Germany,  Switzerland,  France,  Denmark, 
Sweden  and  England,  but  also  gives  a  comprehensive 
survey  of  its  influence  on  the  course  of  thought  and  action 
during  the  period  of  which  it  treats,  and  offers,  in  a  compact 
form,  information  which  has  otherwise  to  be  sought  for  over 
a  wide  field  of  literature.  It  is  hoped,  therefore,  that  it 
will  be  no  less  interesting  to  English  than  to  German 
readers ;  that  it  will  be  found  not  merely  to  traverse  well- 
trodden  ground,  but  that,  from  its  comprehensiveness,  and 
the  learning,  impartiality,  and  insight  of  the  author,  it  will 
prove  a  valuable  addition  to  the  history  of  the  Reformation 
period.  It  is  translated  with  the  sanction  of  the  Editor. 

SYDENHAM,  June,  1873. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

HISTORY  OF  THE    REFORMATION   IN    GERMANY    TO 
THE  TREATY  OF  NUREMBERG,  1532. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGB 

Martin  Luther.  November,  1483,  to  February,  1546. — Youth. — 
Eisleben. — Mansfeld. — Magdeburg. — Eisenach. — Life  in  the 
Monastery  at  Erfurt. — Theological  Development. — Justifica- 
tion by  Faith i 


CHAPTER  II. 

1508—1520. 

Call  to  Wittenberg,  1508. — Journey  to  Rome,  1510. — The  Indul- 
gence of  1517. — Attempts  of  Leo.  X.  (elected  Pope  1513)  at 
Mediation. — Cajetan  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  October,  1518. — 
Miltitz's  Discussion  with  Luther  at  Altenburg,  1519. — Dispu- 
tation at  Leipzig,  27th  June — I3th  July,  1519. — The  Turning- 
point  with  Luther  .........  13 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Last  Days  of  Maximilian  I.,  January,  1519. — Election  of  a 
new  Emperor. — Francis  I.  of  France  and  Charles  V.  of  Spain. 
— Political  Position  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V. — The  Election 
in  June. — The  Election  Bond,  3rd  July,  1519.  .  .  .  29 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PACK 

The  Diet  of  Worms,  Spring  of  1521. — Agreement  between  the 
Emperor  and  the  Pope. — Negotiations  about  Luther. — The 
Mandate  of  8th— 26th  May,  1521.— Growth  of  the  Regal 
Power  in  France  under  Fra'ncis  I.,  1515-47.— His  Domestic 
and  Foreign  Policy.— The  First  War,  1521-26  ...  42 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Situation  of  Germany  during  the  absence  of  Charles  V. — 
Luther  in  the  Wartburg.— The  Translation  of  the  Bible  and 
its  Significance. — Luther  and  the  Radicals  at  Wittenberg. — 
The  Eight  Sermons  against  Carlstadt,  March,  1522. — Luther's 
cause  before  the  Imperial  Chamber  and  the  Diet  of  Nurem- 
berg, 1522-23. — The  Resolution  of  January  I3th,  1523. — The 
One  Hundred  Gravamina. — The  Decree  about  the  Preaching 
of  the  Gospel 60 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Reform  and  Revolution. — The  Nobles  of  the  Empire. — Ulrich 
von  Hutten,  1488-1523. — Franz  von  Sickingen,  the  Feud  of 
1522,  and  the  Catastrophe  of  1523. — Reaction  upon  the 
Reformation. — Activity  of  the  Curia. — Adrian  VI.,  January, 
1522,  to  September,  1523. — Clement  VII.,  September,  1534. 
The  Convention  of  Ratisbon,  July,  1524  .  .  .  .  72 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Great  Peasants'  War,  1524-5. — The  increasing  Oppression  of 
the  Peasantry. — The  Prelude  to  the  Peasants'  War  in  1514. 
— Influence  of  the  Reformation. — The  Twelve  Articles. — The 
Heilbronn  Scheme. — Thomas  Miinzer. — Luther's  Attitude. — 
The  Catastrophe,  May  and  June,  1525  .  .  .  .  .92 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Reaction  of  the  Revolution  upon  the  Reformation. — Charles  V. 
and  the  Peace  of  Madrid. — The  Diet  of  Spire,  August,  1526. — 
Spread  of  the  Reformation. — Its  share  in  the  National  Dis- 
ruption.— The  New  War  in  Italy. — The  League  of  Cognac, 
May,  1526. — The  Storming  of  Rome  by  the  Imperial  Troops, 
1527. — Advance  of  the  French  to  Naples,  and  Dissolution  of 
their  Army  there,  1528. — Peace  of  Barcelona  and  Cambray, 
1529. — The  League  between  the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  and  the 
King  against  the  Heretics loft 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PACE 

Reaction  of  Italian  Affairs  upon  Germany. — Aggravation  of  the 
State  01  Affairs  by  Otto  von  Pack. — Altered  Relation  of 
Parties. — The  Diet  of  Spire  and  the  Protest  of  the  Lutheran 
Party,  April,  1529. — The  Turks  before  Vienna,  1529. — Diet 
of  Augsburg  and  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  June  25th, 
1530. — Threats  against  the  Protestants;  their  first  Meeting 
and  League  at  Schmalkald,  December,  1530 — March,  1531. — 
Danger  from  the  Turks,  and  the  Religious  Peace  of  Nurem- 
berg, July  23rd,  1532  113 


PART  II. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  THE  OTHER  GERMANIC 

STATES;  IN  SWITZERLAND,  DENMARK, 

SWEDEN,  AND  ENGLAND. 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  REFORMATION   IN  SWITZERLAND. 

Early  Life  and  Mental  Development  of  Ulrich  Zwingli,  1484- 
1519. — Study  of  the  Classics. — Curate  at  Glarus,  1506-16. — 
Study  of  the  New  Testament. — Sermon  against  the  Desertion 
of  their  Country  by  the  Swiss.  —  Labours  at  Einsiedeln, 
1516-18. — Call  to  Zurich. — The  Reformation  at  Zurich,  1519- 
25. — Zwingli's  Sermons  in  the  Great  Cathedral. — Decree  of 
the  Council  of  1520. — The  Sixty-seven  Articles  of  1523. — 
Progress  of  Reform. — Reformed  Zurich  and  Switzerland  in 
1526-31 125 

CHAPTER  XI. 

DENMARK. 

The  Period  between  the  Union  of  Calmar,  1397,  and  the  Reforma- 
tion.— Position  of  the  Danish  Monarchy. — Policy  and  Cha- 
racter of  Christian  II.,  1513-23.— Complications  with  Sweden. 
— The  Massacre  of  Stockholm,  November,  1520. — Course  of 
Reform  in  Denmark. — Revolt  of  the  Nobles. — Election  of 
Frederic  L,  April,  1523-33. — His  Domestic  and  Foreign 
Policy. — The  Diet  at  Odensee,  1527,  and  Toleration  of  the 
New  Doctrines. — Complete  Victory  of  the  Reformation  under 
Christian  III.,  1534-59 143 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

SWEDEN. 

PACK 

The  Revolt  under  Gustavus  Vasa,  1523-60— His  Character  and 
Policy. — 1521  Regent,  1523  King  of  Sweden. — Internal  and 
external  Embarrassment  of  his  Position. — Struggle  with  the 
Clergy. — Decree  of  the  Diet  of  Westeras,  1527.— The  Refor- 
mation.— Extension  of  the  Royal  Power. — Independence  and 
internal  Prosperity  of  the  Country 153 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

ENGLAND. 

England  before  the  Tudors— Henry  VIII.,  1509-1547. — His  Cha- 
racter and  Attitude  at  first  towards  the  Church. — His  Oppo- 
sition to  the  Reformation  which  was  demanded  by  the  Mental 
Development  of  the  Nation. — The  Complications  with  Rome. 
— The  Marriage  Question,  1526-29. — Wolsey's  Fall. — 
Breach  with  Rome. — The  Royal  Supremacy,  1534. — The 
Religious  War  against  Catholics  and  Protestants. — The  Secu- 
larisation of  Monasteries. — The  Six  Articles  of  1593  .  .163 


PART   III. 

THE  GERMAN  REFORMATION  FROM  THE  PEACE 

OF  NUREMBERG  TO  THE  PEACE  OF 

AUGSBURG,  1532—55. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Favourable  Circumstances  for  the  Reformation  from  1532-42. — 
The  Restoration  in  Wurtemberg,  1534.— Spread  of  the  new 
Doctrines  in  spite  of  the  Excesses  at  Miinster  and  the  Revo- 
lution at  Lubeck,  1533-35. — The  Emperor's  Attempts  at 
Conciliation,  1537-41. — His  View  of  the  Question. — Instruc- 
tions and  Proceedings  of  Vice-Chancellor  Held. — The  League 
of  Nuremberg,  June,  1538. — The  Discussion  of  Religion,  the 
Interim  of  Ratisbon,  and  the  Decree  of  the  Diet,  July  29th, 
1541. — Decided  Progress  of  Protestantism,  1538-42. — Adop- 
tion of  it  by  Brandenburg  and  the  Duchy  of  Saxony,  1539. — 
Interference  of  the  League  of  Schmalkald  and  the  Contro- 
versy at  Cologne 1 79 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER  XV. 

PAGB 

The  Schmalkald  War,  1546-7. — The  Emperor's  Preparations  for 
War  after  1544. — Security,  Dissensions,  arid  Negligence  of 
the  Schmalkald  Party,  1545-6. — Duke  Maurice  of  Saxony, 
his  Character  and  Policy. — League  with  the  Emperor,  June, 
1546. — The  War,  from  the  summer  of  1546  to  the  spring  of 
1547. — Pitiful  Warfare  of  the  Allies  on  the  Danube. — Inva- 
sion of  Electoral  Saxony  by  Maurice. — Battle  of  Miihlberg, 
24th  April,  1547 196 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Interim  and  Restoration,  1548. — The  Council  of  Trent  from  I3th 
of  December,  1545,  and  the  Diet  of  Augsburg  from  Septem- 
ber, 1547 .215 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Maurice  and  the  Conspiracy  of  the  German  Princes. — Isolation  of 
the  Elector  among  both  Catholics  and  Protestants. — The 
Negotiations  with  France. — The  Coalition  against  the  Em- 
peror.— Treaty  with  France,  and  Surprise  of  the  Emperor, 
1551-2. — Treaty  of  Chambord,  January,  1552. — March  of  the 
Allies,  March,  1552. — Security  and  Defiance  of  the  Emperor. 
— Taking  of  the  Ehrenberger  Klause,  May,  1552. — Charles's 
Flight. — The  Treaty  of  Passau  and  the  Peace  of  Augsburg, 
August,  1552 — September,  1555. — Charles's  Retreat  and  Last 
Days. — General  Results  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany  .  226 


PART  IV. 

CALVINISM    AND  THE   BEGINNING  OF  CATHOLIC 
RESTORATION. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Calvin's  Youth. — Characteristics  of  the  Man  and  his  System.— 
The  "  Institutio  Religionis  Christianas,"  1536. — Calvin's 
Ecclesiastical  State  in  Geneva. — The  Attempt,  1536-8. — 
Success,  1541-64. — The  Organization  of  January,  1542. — 
Ecclesiastical  and  Moral  Discipline  of  Calvinism,  and  its 
Historical  Importance 241 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

PAGF 

Reformation  and  Restoration  in  Italy. — Division  of  Opinion 
among  the  People. — Vacillation  oi  the  Curia. — Opinion  of  the 
Cardinals  on  Reform  in  1537. — Conciliatory  Attitude  till 
1541. — The  Council  of  Trent  and  the  Catholic  Restoraiion. — 
First  Meeting  of  the  Council,  December,  1545-7. — Rudeness 
of  the  Curia  to  the  Emperor  and  Protestants. — Second  Meet- 
ing, May,  1551. — Pope  Paul  IV.  (Carafta),  1555-9.  Third 
Meeting,  January,  1562,  to  the  end  of  1563. — Pope  Pius  IV., 
1559-65. — Progress  and  Results  of  the  Negotiation. — In- 
creased Consolidation  ot  the  Ecclesiastical  Power. — Precau- 
tions against  Sectarianism. — Reconstruction  of  the  shattered 
Religious  System. — Improvement  in  the  Intellectual  and 
Moral  Training  of  the  Clergy 256 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  JESUITS  AND  THE  INQUISITION. 

Ignatius  Loyola  and  the  Society  of  Jesus. — Spanish  Catholicism. 
— Loyola's  Spiritual  Knighthood,  from  1521. — Organization 
of  the  Order,  from  the  time  of  its  Authorisation,  1540. — Its 
Constitution,  Principles,  Discipline,  and  Tactics. — The  Inqui- 
sition.— The  Instructions  oi  Cardinal  Caraffa. — Censorship  of 
the  Press „  265 


PART  V. 

PHILIP  II.  IN  SPAIN,  AND  THE  REVOLT  IN  THE 
NETHERLANDS. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  V.  AND  PHILIP  II. 

The  Ecclesiastical-political  Plans  of  Philip,  1565-98.— The  Abso- 
lute Monarchy  in  Spain  under  Charles  V. — Philip's  Inherit- 
ance.— His  Character. — Amalgamation  of  Spiritual  and 
Temporal  Despotism  in  Spain  .  .  .  .  .  .276 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  REVOLT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

PAGE 

History,  Government,  Country,  and  People  of  the  Seventeen  Pro- 
vinces before  Philip  II. — Philip's  Policy  in  the  Netherlands 
after  November,  1555. — The  Regency  and  the  Aristocracy  : 
Orange,  Egmont,  Margaret  of  Parma,  Bishop  Perrenot 
(Granvella). — The  Spanish  Troops. — The  Increase  of  Bishop- 
rics.— The  Inquisition  in  the  Netherlands. — Tactics  of  Charles 
V. — The  Renewal  of  the  Edict  of  1550. — Granvella's  Re- 
moval, 1564. — Egmont's  Journey  and  the  Compromise, 
January,  1565. — Spring  of  1566. — The  Beggars'  League. — 
The  Field-preaching  and  Attack  upon  Images,  April  to 
August,  1566. — Defeat  of  the  Volunteer  Army  of  the  Beggars 
at  Anstruveel,  March,  1567. — The  Departure  of  William  of 
Orange  from  tie  Netherlands,  April,  1567  ....  285 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  Duke  of  Alba  in  the  Netherlands. — His  Entry  into  the 
Country. — Alba's  Characteristics. — Disappointment  of  the 
Regent. — Guilelessness  of  Egmont  and  Horn. — Their  Impri- 
sonment, gth  of  September. — The  Council  of  Disturbances. — 
Executions,  and  the  First  War  of  Independence,  1567-8. — 
Members,  System,  and  Proceedings  of  the  Council  of  Blood. 
Louis  of  Nassau  in  Friesland,  April — July,  1568. — Success  at 
Heiliger  Lee  in  May. — Death  of  Egmont  and  Horn,  5th  of 
June. — Alba's  Victory,  July. — Advance  of  Orange  and  Dis- 
solution of  his  Army,  October. — Highest  Point  and  Decline  of 
Alba's  System,  1569-73. — The"  loth  Penny"  March,  1569. 
— The  "Amnesty,"  I4th  July,  1570. — The  Sea-Beggars  at 
Brill,  1st  April,  15/2. — Louis  of  Nassau  at  Mons,  May. — The 
Rising  in  Holland  and  Zealand. — Second  Campaign  of  Wil- 
liam of  Orange  frustrated  by  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew.— Alba's  Retreat,  December,  1573 313 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ALBA'S  SUCCESSORS  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Character  of  the  War  which  now  began. — Requesens  y  Zuniga, 
1573-76. — Defeat  and  Death  of  Louis  of  Nassau  on  the 
Alooker  Haide,  I4th  of  April,  15/4. — Siege  and  Succour  of 
Leyden,  26th  of  May  to  3rd  of  October,  1574. — Separation 
between  the  Northern  and  Southern  Provinces. — The  Inter- 
regnum.— The  Great  Mutiny  ot  the  Soldiers. — The  Pacifica- 
tion of  Ghent,  8th  of  November,  1576-78. — Alexander 
Farnese,  Prince  of  Parma,  1587-89. — The  Union  of  Utrecht, 

etnuary,  1579,  and  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  Seven 
orthern  Provinces,  July,   1581. — Murder  of  William,  July 
10,  1584 329 


XVi  CONTENTS. 


PART  VI. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS    IN    FRANCE,   UNTIL  THE 
RESTORATION  OF  THE  KINGDOM  BY  HENRY  IV. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

PACK 

The  last  "War  with  Spain  and  England,  1557-9. — Defeat  at  St. 
Quentin,  1557,  and  Gravelingen,  1558. — Taking  of  Calais, 
Peace  of  Cateau  Cambrasis,  3rd  April,  1559. — Catharine  de 
Medici  and  the  Government  of  the  Guises. — French  Protes- 
tantism in  Conflict  with  the  State. — The  Clergy,  Humanism, 
the  Sorbonne  and  Parliament. — First  Agitation  of  the  New 
Doctrines. — Persecution  of  the  Heretics  after  1552. — The 
Aristocracy  and  the  Princes  of  the  Blood  attacked  by  Cal- 
vinism.— The  Conspiracy  of  Amboise,  March,  1560. — Crisis 
and  Change  after  the  Death  of  King  Francis  II.,  5th  Decem- 
ber, 1560. — Successes  of  Protestantism,  1559. — La  Re"- 
naudie's  Project. — Conde's  Trial. — Catharine  de  Medici  as 
Regent 345 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CHARLES  IX.,    1560-74,   AND  THE   HUGUENOTS,    UNTIL   1570. 

The  First  Compromise  with  the  Reform  Party. — The  States  of 
the  Empire  at  Orleans,  1560-61. — The  Discussion  on  Reli- 
gion at  Poissy,  Autumn  of  1561. — The  Edict  of  1 7th  January, 
1562.— The  Three  First  Religious  Wars,  1562-70.— The 
Massacre  at  Vassy,  March,  1562. — Character  of  the  Civil 
War.— The  First  Religious  War.— Battle  of  St.  Dreux,  De- 
cember, 1562. — Edict  of  Amboise,  March,  1563. — The  Second 
Religious  War,  1567-8. — The  Edict  of  Longjumeaux,  March, 
1568. — The  Third  Religious  War,  1569-70. — Victories  of 
the  Catholics  at  Jarnac  and  Moncontour. — Religious  Peace 
of  St.  Germain-en-Laye,  August,  1570.  —  Character  of 
Charles  IX 357 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  MASSACRE  OF  ST.   BARTHOLOMEW. 

Coligny  at  Court,  and  the  War  with  Spain,  September,  1571 — 
July,  1572. — The  Massacre,  24th  August,  1572,  and  the 
Fourth  Religious  War,  1572-3.— End  of  Charles  IX.,  3Oth 
May,  1574 366 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

HENRY  III.,    1574-89,   AND  THE  LEAGUE. 

PACK 

Character  of  Henry. — The  Edict  of  May,  1576,  and  the  Holy 
League  of  the  Guises. — Protracted  Vacillation. — Death  of 
Francis  of  Anjou,  June,  1584,  and  Contest  about  the  Suc- 
cession.—The  War  of  the  Three  Henrys,  1588-9.— The 
Barricades  of  Paris,  May,  1588.— The  States  at  Blois,  October, 
1588,  and  the  Murder  of  the  Two  Guises,  23rd  and  24th 
December,  1588. — Flight  and  Murder  of  Henry  III.,  August 
2nd,  1589 375 

CHAPTER   XXIX. 

HENRY  IV.,    1589-1610. 

Character  of  Henry  IV. — His  Struggle  for  the  Crown,  1789-93. — 
Dissolution  of  the  Opposing  Party. — Charles  of  Mayenne,  the 
Parisian  Demagogues,  Plans  of  Philip  II. — Henry's  Conver- 
sion to  Catholicism ;  Motives  for  and  Consequences  of  this 
Step. — Henry's  Administration,  1594-1610. — Peace  of  Ver- 
vins,  May,  1598. — Edict  of  Nantes,  1598. — Sully's  Adminis- 
tration.— Plan  of  a  Great  Protestant  Alliance  against  Spanish 
Hapsburg. — Henry's  Murder,  by  Ravaillac,  I4th  May,  1610  .  382 


PART  VII. 

THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE,  FROM   THE   PEACE   OF  AUGS- 
BURG TO   THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR,  1555-1618. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

GENERAL  SITUATION  OF  GERMANY  AFTER   1555. 

Impotence  of  the  Empire. — Continuance  of  the  Contest  of  the 

Creeds 402 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

PROTESTANTISM  IN  AUSTRIA. 

Ferdinand  I.,  1558-64. — Maximilian  II.,  1564-76. — Rudolph  II., 
1576-1612. — The  Bohemian  Royal  Charter  (Majestatsbrief), 
1609. — Duke  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  and  the  Imperial  City  of 
Donauworth,  1606-7. — The  Protestant  Union,  1608,  and  the 
Catholic  League,  1609. — Matthias,  1612-19  ....  407 
b 


,:viii  CONTENTS. 


PART  VIII. 

FIRST  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR.— THE 
BOHEMIAN,  PALATINATE,  AND  DANISH  WARS, 
1620-29. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

PAGE 

First  Acts  of  Ferdinand  II.,  from  March,  1619. — His  Character 
and  Education. — Beginning  of  his  Reign  in  Revolutionary 
Austria. — Election  of  Emperor,  August,  1619. — The  Winter 
Kingdom  of  Frederick  V.,  and  the  War  in  Bohemia. — The 
Battle  of  Weissenberg,  near  Prague,  8th  November,  1620. — 
The  Catholic  Reaction  in  Bohemia  and  the  Palatinate,  1621  415 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE  DANISH  WAR,    1625-29,   AND  ALBRECHT  OF  WALLENSTEIN. 

Change  of  Sentiment. — The  Protestant  League  :  England,  Hol- 
land, Denmark,  1625. — Christian  IV.  of  Denmark. — Albrecht 
von  Wallenstein. — His  Character. — The  War  of  1626-8. — 
Defeat  of  Mansleld  at  Dessau,  April,  1626. — Defeat  of  Chris- 
tian IV.  at  Lutter,  on  the  Barenberg,  August,  1626. — Wallen- 
stein and  Tilly  in  North  Germany,  Mecklenburg,  Stralsund, 
1628. — Peace'of  Lubeck,  May,  1629. — The  Edict  of  Restitu- 
tion, March,  1629.  and  its  Significance. — Machinations  of  the 
League  against  Wallenstein. — The  Meeting  of  Princes  at 
Ratisbon. — Dismissal  of  Wallenstein,  June,  1630  .  .  .  428 


PART  IX. 

SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR.— 
GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS. 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

SWEDEN  AND  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS. 

Sweden  before  Gustavus  Adolphus.  —  Eric  XIV.,  1560-68. — 
John  III.,  1568-92,  and  Charles  of  Siidermanland. — Charles 
as  Regent,  1592-1604. — Charles  IX.  as  King,  1604-11. — 
Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Sweden,  1611-30. — Position  of  Affairs 
at  the  beginning  of  his  Reign. — Political,  Military,  and  Do- 
mestic Reforms. — Wars  with  Denmark,  Russia,  and  Poland. 
— The  Contest  for  the  Baltic  .......  444 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  XXXV. 

GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS    IN   GERMANY,    1630-32. 

PAGE 

Origin  and  Significance  of  the  Swedish  War. — Motives,  Political 
and  Religious,  ol  Gustavus  Adolphus. —  Characteristics  of 
him  and  his  Army. — Their  .Landing  and  First  Successes, 
June — December,  1630. — Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Pomerania. 
— Siege  of  Stettin ;  Treaty  with  Duke  Bogeslav. — Tedious 
Advance  into  Pomerania. — imperial  troops  driven  out  of 
Pomerania,  December,  1630. — Treaty  of  Barwald,  January, 
1631. — Convention  of  Leipzig,  and  Fall  of  Magdeburg,  May, 
1631. — Electoral  Brandenburg  and  Electoral  Hesse  join  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus,  June — August. — Battle  of  Breitenfeld,  Sep- 
tember 7,  1631. — Victorious  March  of  Gustavus  Adolphus 
towards  South  and  West  Germany,  October — December,  1631. 
— Plans  for  Restoration. — Overthrow  ot  the  Power  of  the 
League. — Return  of  Wallenstein,  April,  1032. — ±5attle  of 
Liitzen,  i6th  November,  1632. — Death  of  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus and  its  Significance 458 


PART  X. 


THIRD  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR.— 
RICHELIEU,  OXENSTIERNA,  AND  BERNHARD 
VON  WEIMAR. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

FRANCE  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV. 

Louis  XIII.,  1610-43,  and  Mary  of  Medici. — The  Parliament  of 
1614. — Murder  of  the  Marshal  d'Ancre,  April,  1617. — The 
Duke  ol  Luynes. — Cardinal  Richelieu,  1624-42,  and  Louis 
XIII. — Characteristics  of  both. — Richelieu's  political  method. 
— His  testament. — His  rule  at  home  and  abroad. — Fall  ot  La 
Rochelle,  1628.— The  affair  in  the  Valteline  and  the  War 
about  Mantua,  1630 483 

CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

GERMANY  FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS  TO  WALLEN- 
STEIN'S  CATASTROPHE.    NOVEMBER,  1632 — FEBRUARY,  1634. 

Dissensions  in  the  Swedish  Camp  :  Oxenstierna  and  Bernhard  of 
Weimar. — Beginning  of  the  French  Negotiations  :  Marquis  de 


XX  CONTENTS. 

FAGE 

Feuquieres. — The  Treaty  of  Heilbronn,  April  23rd,  1633. — 
Wallenstein's  ambiguous  conduct  of  the  war  in  1633. — Nego- 
tiations with  Saxony.  The  letter  of  December  26th,  1633. — 
The  Bond  of  Pilsen,  January  I2th,  1634. — The  murder  at 
Eger,  February  25th,  1634 501 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

THE  WAR  FROM  THE  BATTLE  OF  NoRDLINGEN,  1634,  TO  BERNHARD'S 
DEATH,    1639. 

Defeat  of  the  Swedish  army  at  Nordlingen. — Oxenstierna's  fruitless 
negotiations. — The  peace  of  Prague,  1635. — Its  significance 
and  results. — Baner's  victories  and  vicissitudes,  1636-7. — Vic- 
tories and  death  of  Bemhard  of  Weimar,  1638-9  .  .  -514 


PART  XI 

END  OF  THE  WAR.— THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA. 

1640-48. 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

BANER'S  END,  MAY,  1641,  AND  TORSTENSON'S  VICTORIES,  1642-5. 

Battle  of  Leipzig,  2nd  November,  1643.— Campaign  against  Den- 
mark, 1643-44. — Victory  near  Jankowitz,  February,  1645. — 
Simultaneous  warfare  of  the  French. — The  Peace  Negotia- 
tions and  end  of  the  War. — The  Diet  of  Ratisbon  from  Sep- 
tember, 1640. — Brandenburg's  Proposition  of  Unconditional 
Amnesty,  and  Restoration  to  the  Condition  of  1618. — The 
Hamburg  Preliminaries,  December,  1641. — The  Meeting  of 
Deputies  at  Frankfort,  1642-45. — Beginning  of  the  Peace 
Congress  and  end  ol  the  War,  1 644-48 53" 


CHAPTER  XL. 

THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA  ......  546 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

PART   XII. 

COMPLETION   OF    THE    REFORMATION    IN  ENGLAND. 
CHAPTER  XLI. 

THE  REFORMATION   OF    THE  PROTESTANT    CHURCH    UNDER 
EDWARD  VI.,    1547-53. 

PACB 

The  inheritance  of  Henry  VIIF. — Character  of  the  young  King. — 
The  first  Protector,  Edward,  Duke  of  Somerset,  1549. — The 
second  Protector,  Earl  of  Warwick,  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land, 1553. — Character  of  the  Church  Reform,  Bible,  Cate- 
chism, Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Abolition  of  the  Mass, 
Celibacy,  &c. — The  Catholic  reaction  under  Mary,  1553-8. — 
Abolition  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Laws  of  Edward  VI.,  and 
first  acts  of  revenge. — Marriage  with  Philip  II.  of  Spain, 
1554. — The  Question  of  Church  Property. — Parliament  and 
the  Laws  concerning  Heresy.—  The  Ordeal  by  fire  of  English 
Protestantism. — The  untenable  position  of  the  Government 
after  the  loss  of  Calais  and  the  Breach  of  the  Constitution  .  560 

CHAPTER   XLII. 

QUEEN   ELIZABETH,    1558-1603. 

Cautious  beginnings. — The  Parliament  of  1559  and  the  Re-esta- 
blishment of  the  Anglican  Church. — Beginning  of  the  con- 
flict with  Mary  Stuart. — The  Reformation  in  Scotland,  John 
Knox. — Mary  Stuart  in  Scotland,  1561-8. — Darnley. — Rizzio. 
— Bothwell. — Mary  Stuart  in  England. — Attitude  of  Rome 
and  Spain  against  Elizabeth. — The  Conspiracies. — Norfolk, 
1569-1572. — Elizabeth's  lorced  enmity  towards  Rome  and 
Spain,  1572-85. — Conspiracy  of  Savage  and  Babington. — 
Mary  Stuart's  Trial  and  Execution,  1586-7. — The  Spanish 
Armada  and  Elizabeth's  last  days,  1603  ....  574 


PART  XIII. 

THE  REVOLUTION  AND  REPUBLIC   IN   ENGLAND. 
CHAPTER    XLIII. 

JAMES   I.,    1603-25. 

Character  of  the  Monarch  and  unfavourable  beginning  of  his  Reign. 
— The  Gunpowder  Plot,  November,  1605. — The  Contests  of 


XXli  CONTENTS. 

PAOK 

1621. — Trial  of  Lord  Bacon  of  Verulam. — The  Question  of 
taking  part  in  the  Bohemian-Palatinate  War. — The  Difficulties 
of  Parliament. — Address  of  November,  1621,  and  Dissolution 
of  Parliament. — The  Spanish  Marriage  Scheme.  Buckingham 
and  the  Prince  of  Wales. — Change  in  the  Policy  of  England. 
—The  Parliament  of  1624. — Death  of  James,  April,  1625  .  603 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Charles  I.,  1625-49. — His  Character. — The  first  two  Parliaments, 
1625-26. — The  War  with  Spain  and  France. — The  third  and 
last  Parliament.— The  Petition  of  Right,  1628-9.— Charles  I. 
without  a  Parliament. — The  Earl  of  Straftbrd. — Archbishop 
Laud. — The  Star  Chamber. — The  High  Commission. — Ship 
Money,  1634. — John  Hampden's  Trial,  1637  ....  616 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

THE    TURN    OF    EVENTS. 

The  Complications  in  Scotland,  1637-39. — The  Tumult  at  Edin- 
burgh.— The  Covenant,  1638. — The  General  Assembly  at 
Glasgow,  November,  1638. — The  Fourth  Parliament,  1640. — 
The  Long  Parliament. — First  Measures  against  the  Policy 
and  Representatives  of  Strafford's  System. — Indictment, 
Trial,  and  Execution  of  Strafford,  May,  1641  .  .  .  631 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

OPEN  BREACH  BETWEEN  THE  KING  AND  PARLIAMENT. 

The  King  in  Scotland,  August,  1641. — Massacre  of  the  Protestants 
in  Ireland. — Return  of  Parliament  in  October,  and  the  Sepa- 
ration of  Parties  into  Cavaliers  and  Roundheads. — The  Great 
Remonstrance,  November,  and  the  unsuccessful  Coup  d'Etat, 
January  3rd  and  4th,  1642. — Commotions  in  London. — The 
First  Parliamentary  Army. — Departure  of  the  King. — Return 
of  Parliament,  January  nth,  1642 641 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

Prospects  of  both  Parties. — Victories  of  the  Royalists,  October, 
1642,  to  September,  1643. — Interposition  of  the  Scots. — 
Presbyterians  and  Independents. — Defeat  of  the  Royalists  at 
Marston  Moor,  July,  and  at  Newbury,  October,  1644. — 
Oliver  Cromwell. — The  Self-denying  Ordinance  .  .  .651 


CONTENTS.  XXl  11 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

THE   CATASTROPHE  OF   CHARLES  AND   OF  THE  PARLIAMENT. 

PAGE 

Defeat  of  Charles  at  Naseby,  June,  1645. — lie  takes  refuge  with 
the  Scots,  who  sell  him  to  the  Presbyterians. — Mutiny  of  the 
Army  against  Parliament. — Abduction  of  the  King. — March 
to  London. — First  Purge  of  Parliament,  August,  1647. — The 
King's  Flight  to  the  Isle  of  Wight. — His  Trial  and  Execu- 
tion, 3Oth  January,  1649 664 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE  COMMONWEALTH,   WITHOUT  KING  OR   HOUSE  OF   LORDS. 

Cromwell's  Position  after  the  Death  of  Charles  I. — Parties,  Re- 
public and  Monarchy. — Subjugation  of  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land, 1649-51. — War  with  Holland. — The  Navigation  Act, 
October,  1651,  and  the  Peace  of  April,  1654. — The  Consti- 
tutional Experiments. — Dismissal  of  the  Long  Parliament. — 
The  Constitution  of  December,  1653. — The  Parliament  oi 
1654-5,  an(i  *ne  Military  Government. — The  Parliament  of 
1656-7. — Proposal  of  a  Monarchy. — The  Upper  H'>use  of 
January,  1658. — Cromwell's  Death,  3rd  September,  1658. — 
Richard  Cromwell  and  the  end  of  the  Republic  .  .  .  673 


PART   I. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY  TO 
THE  TREATY  OF  NUREMBERG,  1532.* 


CHAPTER  I. 

Martin  Luther.  November,  1483,  to  February,  1546.  —  Youth. — 
Eisleben. — Mansfeld. — Magdeburg. — Eisenach. — Life  in  the  Mo- 
nastery at  Erfurt. — Theological  Development. — Justification  by 
Faith. 

IN  the  state  of  things  which  existed  about  the  year  1517, 
a  trifling  incident  might  have  been  the  spark  which 
was  to  set  the  whole  nation  in  a  flame — an  insignificant  man 
might  have  given  the  impetus  to  that  which  was  inevitable. 
But  events  did  not  take  this  course ;  the  exciting  cause  was 
indeed  scarcely  proportionate  to  the  results,  but  the  indi- 

*  Literature : — For  the  reign  of  Maximilian,  see  Muller,  Reichstag- 
theatrum.  Jena,  1719;  and  Reichstagstaat.  Jena,  1709.  Datt,  De 
Pace  Impei  ii  Publica.  Ulm,  1698.  Chmel,  Urkunden  zur  Geschichte 
Maximilian's.  Stuttg.,  1845.  Monuin.  Habsburgica.  Ed.  Lanz,  1853. 
I.  Fontes  rer.  austr.  Ed.  Karajan,  1855.  I.  Monum.  Habsburg. 
Ed.  Chmel,  1854,  ff.  i.  ii.  Klupfel,  Urkunden  zur  Geschichte  des 
Schwab.  Bundes.  Stuttg.,  1846,  i.  L.  Ranke,  Geschichte  der  Roman- 
ischenund  Germanischen  Volker  von  1494-1535.  Berlin,  1824.  Hege- 
wisch,  Geschichte  Maximilian's.  Hamburg,  1782.  On  the  Reforma- 
tion and  Karl  V.,  besides  the  writings  of  the  Reformers.  Luther's  "Werke. 
Ed.  Walch,  and  his  Letters  edited  by  De  Wette.  Luther's  Werke. 
Erlangen,  1826-57,  67  Bde.  Melancthon's  Schriften  im  Corpus  Re- 
formatorum.  Ed.  Bretschneider ;  then  Lorscher,  complete  Reforma- 
tions acta.  Leipzig,  1720.  Hortleder,  Handlungen  und  Ausschreiben 
von  den  Ursachen  des  Kriegs  K.  Karl  V.  wider  die  Schmalkald. 
Bundesverwandten.  Frankfort,  1617.  Lehman,  De  Pace  Religionis  Acta 
Publica.  Frankfort,  1707.  Foistemann,  Urkundenbuch.  Hamburg, 
1841.  Sleidanus,  De  Statu  Religionis  et  Reipnblicae,  Carole  V.  Caesare 
Argent,  1555.  Ed.  Am  Ende,  Frankfort.  1785.  Spalatinus,  Annales 
Reformat.  Leipzig,  1718.  The  same,  Chronicon  bei  Menken,  T.  ii. 

B 


2  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

vidual  whose  theses  were  to  remodel  the  world  was  a  man 
of  the  first  class — so  great,  so  eminent,  that  he  was  not 
engulfed  in  the  stream  of  events,  but  struggled  with  them, 
guided  and  ruled  them  until  his  death. 

Martin  Luther  was  completely  the  child  of  those  deeply 
agitated  times,  and  a  true  son  of  the  people  whose  leader 
he  was  destined  to  be.  He  had  all  the  traits  of  the  true 
German  character,  the  downright  sincerity,  the  steady 
endurance,  the  deep  and  earnest  inwardness,  united  with 
a  tendency  to  mysticism,  to  gloomy  and  ascetic  views  of 
life,  which  were  then  peculiar  to  the  more  earnest  minds 
among  our  people.  The  agonizing  spiritual  conflicts,  the 
fierce  struggles,  the  sharply  denned  contrasts  of  that  great 
transition  period  can  scarcely  be  so  distinctly  traced  in 
the  career  of  any  other  historical  personage.  We  see  his 
cheerful  Thuringian  nature  in  perpetual  conflict  with  the 
dark  results  of  mediaeval  monasticism ;  we  see  a  childlike 
and  modest  disposition  united  with  a  defiant  and  passionate 
spirit ;  together  with  the  deep  contrition,  the  tears  and  groans 
of  a  soul  struggling  for  redemption,  he  displayed  the  lion- 
hearted  courage  of  a  hero  of  the  faith,  and  the  lenient  and 
reasonable  judgments  he  passed  upon  human  affairs  are 
often  in  strange  contrast  with  the  unyielding,  relentless 
rigour  of  the  monk  and  the  priest. 

Seckendorf,  Commentarius  de  Lutheranismo.  Frankfort,  1688.  Joh. 
Cochlasi,  Comment,  de  Actis  et  Scriptis  M.  Lutheri.  Mogunt,  1549. 
Charles  V.  in  particular, — Sepulveda,  De  Rebus  Gestis,  Caroli,  1657. 
Sandoval,  Historia  de  la  Vida  del  Emp.  Carlos,  1604  ff.  2  Bde.  K. 
Lanz,  Correspondenz  Karl's  V.  In  the  Royal  Archives,  &c.  Leipzig, 
1844,  3  Bde.  The  same,  State  Papers  of  the  History  of  Charles  V. 
Stuttg.,  1845.  Briefe  Karl's  V.  an  seinen  Beichtvater.  Edited  by 
Heine.  Berlin,  1848.  Die  Urkunden  sammlung  von  Gachard  und 
Le  Glay.  Monumenta  Habsburgica,  vol.  ii.  1853.  Relating  to  Luther : 
K.  Jiirgens,  Leben  Luther's,  1846,  i.  ii.  iii.  This  part  in  general — 
L.  Rarike,  Deutsche  Geschichte  im  Zeitalter  der  Reformation.  Berlin, 
1853.  2  Aufl.  6  Bande.  K.  A.  Menzel,  Neuere  Geschichte  der  Deutschen 
seit  der  Reformation.  Breslau,  1826,  ff.  6  Aufl.  Berlin,  1854,  6  Bande. 
K.  Hagen,  Deutschlands  literar,  und  relig.  Verbaltnisse  im  Reforma- 
tionszeitalter.  Erl.  1841,  3  Thle.  Neudecker,  Geschichte  der  Deutschen 
Reformation.  Leip/ig,  1842.  His  Urkunden  aus  der  Reformations- 
zeit,  1836,  und  Merkwiirdige  Aktenstiicke,  1838,  2  Thle.  Forstemann, 
Urkundenbuch  zur  Reform.  Geschichte,  1842.  Spalatins  Nachlass, 
Herausg.  vonNeudecke,  1851.  Strauss,  D. F. Leben  Ulrichs  von  Hutten, 
1857,  2Thle.  Bischof,  Seb.  Frankfort,  1857.  Rossmann,  Betrachtungen 
iiber  das  Zeitalter  der  Reformation,  1858.  Gust.  Pfizer,  Luther's 
Leben.  Stuttgard,  1836.  Burkhardt,  Luther's  Brieft  (emendation  of 
Do  Wette's  edition),  1866. 


MARTIN  LUTHER.  3 

A  creative  master  of  our  language,  both  in  writing  and 
speaking,  a  bold  yet  moderate  reformer,  an  embodiment  of 
our  noblest  characteristics,  he  became  a  blessing  to  the 
whole  nation. 

He  was  born  in  very  narrow  circumstances,  on  the  loth 
of  November,  1483.  The  home  of  his  family  was  at  Mohra, 
near  Akenstein,  in  Thuringia,  and  the  name  of  Luther  still 
occurs  there.  His  father,  a  slate-cutter  by  trade,  had  emi- 
grated  to  the  rich  mining  district  ofEislebeji  to  find  work,  and 
there  Luther  came  into  the  world.  The  characteristics  of  the 
Thuringian  race  are  strongly  marked,  and  are  clearly  distin- 
guishable in  him.  It  may  be  known  everywhere  by  its  sturdy 
simplicity,  and  an  unconstrained,  fresh,  and  joyous  tempera- 
ment. It  forms,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  connecting  link 
between  what  has  been  called  North  and  South  German 
individuality ;  many  of  the  characteristics  of  both  are  united 
with  it :  together  with  the  North  German  repose,  reserve, 
and  sobriety,  we  find  the  keen  enjoyment  of  life  and  cheer- 
fulness of  the  South  German  character,  and  the  combina- 
tion may  be  traced  in  Luther. 

He  was  thoroughly  the  child  of  the  Thuringian  peasantry. 
Although  he  lived  almost  exclusively  in  towns,  and  now 
and  then  said  bitter  things  of  the  peasant  class,  still  he 
remained  a  peasant's  son  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  and 
was  proud  of  it.  "  I  am  a  peasant's  son,"  he  says  in  his 
"  Table-Talk ; "  "  my  father,  grandfather,  and  ancestors  were 
all  peasants."  The  training  in  the  parental  home  was  strait, 
strict,  and  harsh,  not  well  adapted  to  cherish  the  love  of 
harmony,  the  profound  and  kindly  serenity  which  never 
left  him  in  his  later  years. 

Both  parents  worked  very  hard  to  support  their  children  ; 
the  mother,  so  her  son  tells  us,  herself  carried  the  wood  on 
her  back ;  the  father  spent  his  life  as  a  poor  miner.  Hans 
Luther  always  comes  before  us  as  a  sturdy,  energetic  man, 
with  an  air  of  great  strictness,  if  not  severity;  he  was 
devoted  with  his  whole  soul  to  the  ancient  faith,  but  was 
none  the  less  a  bitter  foe  of  corrupt  monasticism. 

Luther's  youth  was  not  a  happy  one.  We  shall  make  the 
acquaintance  of  another  reformer,  also  a  peasant's  son  ; 
but  his  parents  were  well  to  do,  he  was  treated  like  the  child 
of  rich  people,  grew  up  in  a  free  state,  and  was  early  accus- 
tomed to  think  about  and  take  part  in  public  affairs. 
Luther's  lot  was  very  different.  He  knew  what  it  was  to 


4  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

raise  himself  out  of  the  dust,  and  in  after  life  he  often 
spoke  of  what  such  as  he  have  to  bear.  Having  nothing 
whereof  "to  boast  and  brag,"  he  learns  to  trust  in  God 
betimes,  "  to  suffer  and  hold  his  peace." 

But  notwithstanding  his  limited  means,  Luther's  father 
had  an  ambition  to  make  something  better  of  him  than  a 
miner ;  but,  at  all  events,  he  treated  him  with  the  greatest 
severity,  and  in  this  his  wife  was  entirely  of  one  mind 
with  him.  He  was  harshly  punished  for  trifles  ;  corporal 
chastisement  was  a  very  common  thing ;  he  never  forgot 
how  he  was  cruelly  flogged  for  childish  faults ;  how  even 
his  mother  whipped  him  about  a  nut  till  she  drew  blood. 
He  said  that  it  had  an  effect  on  his  whole  after  life. 

"  My  parents'  severity  made  me  timid ;  their  sternness 
and  the  strict  life  they  led  me  made  me  afterwards  go  into 
a  monastery  and  become  a  monk.  They  heartily  meant 
it  well,  but  they  did  not  understand  the  art  of  adjusting 
their  punishments." 

He  did  not  fare  much  better  at  the  school  at  Majasfeid, 
where  his  parents  lived  from  1484  to  1497  ;  the  teachers 
behaved  to  the  pupils  "  like  gaolers  to  thieves."  He  was 
soundly  thrashed  fifteen  times  in  one  afternoon,  and  all  his 
life  spoke  with  horror  of  the  "  purgatory  of  schools,  where 
we  are  martyred  over  the  casualibus  and  temporalibus,  and 
yet  learn  nothing  from  all  this  flogging  but  terror,  fear,  and 
misery." 

But  it  was  a  lasting  satisfaction  to  him  that  many  who  got 
on  better  than  he  did  at  school,  and  did  not  get  so  many 
stripes,  did  not  afterwards  "  cackle  and  lay  eggs." 

His  religious  training  was  strictly  orthodox.  If  any  one 
had  a  living  faith  in  the  mediaeval  Church  it  was  he ;  he 
often  remarked,  both  in  jest  and  in  earnest,  what  a  powerful 
effect  the  Romish  Church  had  had  on  him.  This  was  spe- 
cially the  case  when  he  went  from  Mansfeld  to  Magdeburg 
in  1497. 

Magdeburg,  with  its  forty  thousand  inhabitants,  was  at 
that  time  the  largest  and  most  flourishing  city  in  the  north 
of  Germany,  and,  as  the  seat  of  a  bishopric,  was  the  brilliant 
centre  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  north. 

The  boy,  then  fourteen,  went  to  a  Franciscan  school. 
The  teachers  had  a  reputation  for  skill,  but  were  disposed 
to  live  on  the  generosity  of  pious  people.  In  this  school 
he  acquired  what  we  should  call  the  elements  of  gymnasial 


EISENACH.  5 

instruction,  and  in  the  city  he  received  the  first  ineffaceable 
impressions  of  the  majesty  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Here, 
too,  he  witnessed  a  spectacle  which  affected  him  deeply ; 
he  saw  the  son  of  a  German  prince,  Wilhelm  von  Anhalt, 
whom  his  father,  in  an  attack  of  melancholy,  had  forced  to 
become  a  monk.  Luther  saw  him  "  go  about  the  streets 
in  the  cowl  of  a  barefooted  friar,  with  a  beggar's  wallet, 
begging  for  bread,  and  he  had  been  scourged  and  made  to 
fast  and  watch  until  he  was  the  picture  of  death — nothing 
but  skin  and  bone."  But  this  sight  had  not  then  the  repel- 
ling effect  upon  him  which  it  would  afterwards  have  had ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  stimulated  him;  he  vowed  to  himself 
that  he  would  follow  in  the  steps  of  this  Prince  of  Anhalt. 
"  I  was  naturally  disposed  to  fast,  to  watch,  to  pray,  to  do 
good  works,  that  I  might  thereby  expiate  my  sins."  He 
had  already  vowed  to  himself  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome, 
and  to  be  religious.* 

His  subsequent  opposition  to  the  mediaeval  Church,  there- 
fore, did  not  arise,  as  with  the  Humanists,  from  a  tendency 
to  scepticism ;  he  had  been  devoted  to  it  with  his  whole 
soul,  and  only  forsook  it  when  he  had  discovered  the  falseness 
of  the  Church  system. 

He  next  went  to  Eisenach.  Here  he  was  dependent  for 
support  on  alms  from  strangers.  It  is  still  the  custom  in 
Thuringia  for  the  poorer  scholars  to  go  about  the  streets  at 
certain  hours  and  receive  alms  for  singing  hymns.  Luther 
himself  relates  how  he  had  been  such  a  partekenhengst ;  I 
had  said  "  panem  propter  Deum  "  at  the  doors  of  strangers, 
and  sung  songs  for  bread ;  how  he  and  his  comrades  often 
met  with  a  rough  repulse,  and  at  many  wealthy  houses  did 
not  even  get  the  crumbs  from  the  table.  But  at  the  house 
of  Conrad  Cotta,  a  prosperous  citizen,  it  was  very  different ; 
there  the  mistress  accorded  him  her  sympathy.  She  made 
him  generous  presents,  had  him  into  the  house,  allowed  him 
to  come  to  her  table  and  to  have  lessons  with  her  children. 
Luther  afterwards  recurred  with  pleasure  to  this  kindness, 
and  it  was  a  proud  moment  for  him  when  the  son  of. the 

*  Jiirgens,  i.  221. 

f  I  can  hnd  no  equivalent  for  this  word,  probably  coined  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment.  Parteken,  crumbs,  broken  bread ;  hengst,  a 
stallion,  is  used  among  the  common  people  as  an  expression  lor  an 
ardent  lover,  or  lor  one  who  pursues  an  object  passionately.  Luther 
meant  therefore  that  he  was  so  poor  as  to  be  eager  lor  broken  food. — Tk. 


6  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

widow  Cotta  afterwards  came  to  him  at  Wittenberg,  and  he 
was  able  to  requite  it.  He  never  knew  how  to  keep  money 
or  property  together,  and  his  house  was  always  open  to 
poor  scholars  if  they  were  talented  and  eager  to  learn ; 
when  any  one  remonstrated,  he  would  remind  him  of  his 
own  life  at  Eisenach.  It  was  here  that  he  first  made  ac- 
quaintance with  family  life,  the  mind  of  woman  and  parental 
love,  for  he  had  never  known  them  in  their  gentle  and 
genial  aspect  at  home.  He  was  treated  like  a  favourite 
adopted  child  ;  the  classical  languages  were  studied  in  the 
spirit  of  the  Humanists,  and  music,  that  choice  gii't  of  God, 
which  brightened  so  many  hours  for  the  poor  timid  student, 
was  also  lovingly  cultivated. 

He  was  not  to  be  a  miner  or  a  slate -cutter  like  his 
father.  It  was  his  wish  to  make  his  son  a  lawyer  or  a 
statesman.  With  all  his  deep  and  heartfelt  faith,  he 
despised  theology  and  the  Church  system;  monastic  life 
seemed  to  him  the  very  path  to  destruction. 

But  it  was  on  this  very  point  that  his  son  was,  for  the 
first  time,  disobedient. 

In  1501  he  went  to  the  university.  Among  the  univer- 
sities of  that  day  Erfurt  took  the  first  rank  as  the  seat  of 
Humanistic  studies.  Lawyers,  doctors  of  medicine,  and 
theologians,  all  belonged  to  the  new  school.  The  excellent 
philological  teaching,  the  schools  for  Greek  and  Latin, 
and  the  new  grammatical  method,  were  of  great  service  to 
Luther ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  had  any  inclination 
to  make  these  studies  his  profession.  He  regarded  them  as 
means  to  an  end.  Besides,  his  vocation  was  marked  out  for 
him  ;  he  was  to  be  a  lawyer.  For  a  time  he  studied  jurispru- 
dence, but  without  any  pleasure  in  it,  and  therefore  without 
success  ;  the  impulses  of  his  soul  strongly  attracted  him  in 
another  direction.  Moreover,  his  mind  was  at  that  time  out 
of  tune ;  a  profound  melancholy  had  taken  possession  of  him, 
which  left  him  neither  time  nor  taste  for  this  branch  of  study. 
I  He  felt  dissatisfied  with  all  his  pursuits.  It  is  a  phase 
which  earnest  minds  often  have  to  pass  through,  especially 
about  the  time  of  transition  between  youth  and  manhood  ; 
a  certain  melancholy  overpowers  even  healthy  minds,  an 
unknown  something  is  wanting  to  them,  an  enigmatical 
longing  impels  them  to  restlessness,  they  seek  satisfaction 
everywhere  and  find  it  nowhere.  Luther  could  not  find  it 
either  in  heathen  antiquity  or  in  jurisprudence. 


ERFURT.  7 

The  poverty  and  austerity  of  his  youth,  the  stern  parental 
training  had  early  driven  him  within  himself.  The  eager 
perusal,  the  diligent  study  during  the  night  watches  of 
works  which  suited  his  religious  tendencies,  had  interested 
him  in  subjects  which  had  no  connection  with  jurisprudence. 
He  had,  as  it  were,  been  led  to  theology  by  himself;  he  had 
become  more  and  more  deeply  engrossed  in  the  study, 
which,  as  he  says,  "  seeks  for  the  kernel  in  the  nut,  the 
marrow  in  the  bones."  He  had  studied  the  fathers,  parti- 
cularly Augustine,  then  the  Pauline  Epistles  and  the  writings 
of  the  mystics — Tauler,  Suso,  and  Eccard — whose  views 
were  strangely  in  contrast  with  the  prevailing  Church 
system,  not  however  in  a  sceptical,  but  a  mystical  direction. 

While  pursuing  these  studies,  the  thought  ripened  within 
him  that  it  was  not  his  vocation  to  follow  his  father's  plans, 
but  to  devote  himself  to  theology,  and  that  in  the  strictest 
sense  of  the  word.  He  would  enter  an  order  of  monks, 
like  the  Prince  of  Anhalt,  and  renounce  the  world. 

There  is  an  old  and  well-known  tradition*  that  he  was 
impelled  to  this  resolution  by  the  untimely  death  of  a 
friend  by  his  side.  We  have  no  thoroughly  trustworthy 
authority  for  it ;  it  is  possible  that  this  may  have  increased 
his  previous  melancholy,  and  put  an  end  to  long  hesitation. 
But  the  resolution  was  certainly  not  formed  all  in  one  night ; 
in  real  life  things  do  not  happen  in  this  dramatic  way ;  it 
undoubtedly  was  preceded  by  a  long  process  of  develop- 
ment, to  which  such  an  event  may  have  given  the  last 
decisive  impulse. t 

It  gave  rise  to  severe  conflicts  with  his  father.  He  had 
been  accustomed  to  implicit  obedience  from  his  son  ;  now, 
for  the  first  time,  he  declared  that  he  neither  could  nor 
would  obey,  for  that  his  conscience,  his  salvation,  his  all 
were  at  stake.  A  separation  took  place,  which  Luther  could 
never  mention  without  emotion.  The  grey-headed  old  man 
went  away  in  despair,  feeling  that  his  son  was  lost  to  him. 

Martin  Luther  joined  the   Austin  Friars  in    1505,   and 

•  Mathesius,  quoted  by  Jiirgens,  i.  521. 

t  It  is  certain  that  in  the  dedication  to  his  father  of  his  work  on 
monastic  vows,  Luther  refers  to  "a  forced  and  extorted  vow,"  taken 
when  he  was  "  encompassed  with  the  fear  and  horror  of  death  ;  "  and 
here  and  afterwards  he  states  that  he  "never  became  a  monk  of  his 
own  free  will ;  "  that  "  his  vow  was  not  worth  a  fig ;  "  that  it  was  not 
taken  heartily  and  willingly." — JiJRGENS. 


8  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

earnestly  desired,  if  any  one  ever  did,  to  be  a  true  monk,  and 
"  with  tonsure  and  cowl,"  by  the  service  of  God,  to  earn  his 
soul's  salvation.  There  was  at  that  time  a  proverb  current, 
"  Despair  makes  a  monk,"  and  in  Luther's  case  it  was  strictly 
true.  He  imposed  all  sorts  of  privations  on  himself,  morti- 
fied the  flesh,  passed  whole  nights  in  prayer  and  fasting, 
and  practised  all  those  self-inflicted  torments  which  the 
Middle  Ages  were  so  clever  in  inventing,  as  if  he  would 
take  heaven  by  storm.  The  gloomy,  intolerant  monastic 
rigidity,  the  want  of  sympathy  for  any  other  conception  of 
life,  took  firm  hold  of  his  character ;  he  compares  himself  to 
those  who  build  up  funeral  piles,  and  we  shall  find  moments 
in  his  life  when  this  tendency,  in  its  most  exclusive  form, 
got  the  upper  hand  of  him. 

But  in  spite  of  this  melancholy  and  mediaeval  state  of 
mind,  a  great  development  was  taking  place  within  him ; 
he  scourged  himself,  but  he  no  less  zealously  pursued  his 
studies.  The  monks  bore  him  a  grudge  for  this,  for  they 
thought,  "  If  this  brother  studies  he  will  rule  us."  But  he 
was  not  to  be  deterred  by  this,  and  even  during  these  early 
years  he  impressed  unprejudiced  persons  with  an  idea  of 
superiority.  Those  who  knew  him  at  that  time  agree  in 
assuring  us  that  there  was  something  remarkable  in  his 
appearance ;  all  who  came  into  close  contact  with  him  were 
struck  with,  and  many  awed  by  him.  Even  so  short  a  time 
afterwards  as  1509,  the  learned  Pollich  of  Wittenberg,  who 
kept  strictly  to  the  ancient  Church,  said  of  him :  "  The  monk 
with  the  deep-set  eyes  and  the  strange  fancies  will  lead 
all  the  doctors  astray,  set  up  a  new  doctrine,  and  reform  the 
whole  Romish  Church."  In  1518  Cajetan  said  of  the  pale, 
emaciate  recluse  with  the  awe-stricken  look,  "  I  could  hardly 
look  the  man  in  the  face,  such  a  diabolical  fire  darted  out 
of  his  eyes." 

The  question  that  was  agitated  within  him  was  a  vital  one 
for  the  whole  Church,  and  is  so  in  every  age,  but  it  was  of 
special  significance  then.  The  feeling  of  universal  human 
sinfulness,  the  impossibility  of  redemption  from  the  curse  of 
sin  by  the  means  which  had  hitherto  been  considered 
sufficient,  burdened  him  with  an  almost  crushing  weight. 
He  found  no  solution  in  dogmatic  teaching  as  then  set 
forth,  because,  on  the  one  hand,  he  felt  repulsed  by  the  Old 
Testament  God  of  revenge  and  wrath ;  and,  on  the  other, 
the  doctrine  of  remission  of  sins  by  outward  acts  was 


THEOLOGICAL    DEVELOPMENT.  9 

repugnant  alike  to  his  understanding  and  his  heart.  To 
purchase  absolution  from  the  burden  of  sin  by  pharisaical 
works,  by  fulfilling  outward  duties,  by  the  punctual  obser- 
vance of  ecclesiastical  requirements,  appeared  to  him  to  be 
frivolous,  and  the  angry  God  of  the  Old  Testament  terrified 
him.  The  severe  penances  which  he  inflicted  on  body  and 
mind  gave  him  no  comfort,  for  the  words  were  always  present 
with  him  :  "  The  justice  of  God  is  the  wrath  of  God."  "  As 
often,"  he  says,  "as  I  read  this  passage,  I  wished  that 
God  had  not  revealed  the  Gospel ;  for  who  could  love  the 
God  who  is  thus  angry  with  us,  judges  and  condemns 
us?" 

The  great  minds  of  Christendom  had  always  been  exer- 
cised by  such  conflicts ;  none  more  so  than  Augustine. 
After  a  wild,  erring,  and  agitated  life,  he  had  found 
inward  peace  in  a  faith  which  he  then  formed  into  a 
rigid  dogma.  And  this  Augustinian  dogma  of  justifica-  / 
tion  by  faith  alone,  and  by  the  election  of  God,  provided  i 
that  this  faith  be  sincere  and  complete,  powerfully  affected 
Luther.  The  very  peculiar  thinkers  of  the  mystic  school 
of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  had  said  the 
same  thing;  they  looked  for  nothing  from  outward  works, 
but  for  everything  from  the  inward  sanctification  of  men, 
and  these  were  the  views  of  all  the  more  superior  minds 
of  early  times.  Luther  never  speaks  more  frequently  of 
anything  than  of  the  change  which  took  place  within  him 
as  the  result  of  this  enlightenment ;  he  is  for  ever  thanking 
his  faithful  patron,  Staupitz,  for  helping  him  to  find  the  right 
path,  and  for  ever  recurring  to  the  mental  torments  from 
which  these  views  delivered  him. 

"  When,"  he  says  in  one  of  the  many  passages  in  which 
he  refers  to  it,  "  I  began  to  meditate  more  diligently  on 
the  words  just,  and  the  justice  of  God,  which  terrified  me, 
and  considered  that  the  justice  which  avails  with  God  is 
manifested  without  the  deeds  of  the  law,  I  began  to  be 
otherwise  minded,  and  thought  from  that  hour  :  If  we  are 
to  be  justified  by  faith,  if  the  justice  of  God  is  to  save  all 
those  that  believe,  such  passages  will  not  alarm  poor  sinners 
and  terrified  consciences,  but  rather  comfort  them."  The 
saying  of  the  prophet  Habbakuk,  "  The  just  shall  live  by 
faith,"  came  to  him  like  redemption.  "  From  this  I  have 
deduced  that  life  must  spring  from  faith.  I  connected  the 
word  justice  with  the  word  just;  namely,  that  man  becomes 


10  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

just  before  God  by  faith — the  whole  Scripture,  heaven  itself 
was  opened  to  me."  * 

This  led  to  something  more  than  an  ordinary  scholastic 
controversy ;  it  led  to  a  great  conflict  between  the  Pauline 
and  Augustinian  doctrine  and  the  prevailing  one.  The  dif- 
ference was  such  that  it  of  necessity  made  a  wider  schism 
in  the  Christian  world  as  it  then  was,  than  it  at  first  sight 
appeared  likely  to  do.  That  which  tormented  Luther's  con- 
science was  a  result  of  the  woildliness  and  shallowness  of 
the  Church  polity,  and  this  was  the  cause  of  numerous  other 
grievances,  by  no  means  religious  only.  Herder  once  said  : 
"A  religion  begins  to  fall  into  decay  when  its  interpreters 
have  lost  the  key  to  it."  The  remark  applies  to  the  case 
before  us.  People  had  quite  forgotten  what  the  Church 
should  be,  and  once  had  been,  as  is  plainly  shown  by  the 
fact  that,  among  the  higher  grades  of  society,  and  even  by 
the  Church  itself,  religion  was  looked  upon  as  something 
very  good  for  the  masses,  but  as  a  luxury  with  which  those 
above  them  could  dispense  ;  nobody  cared  for  faith  or  moral 
worth,  and  the  worship  of  God  was  held  to  consist  in  the 
strict  performance  of  outward  acts. 

This  was  not  the  ancient  view  of  the  Church ;  even 
Pelagius,  who  had  not  stated  it  so  broadly,  had  been 
condemned.  The  Church  was  entirely  secularised,  and 
what  was  meant  to  look  like  religion  was  nothing  but  a 
hypocritical  show  of  outward  conformity  to  law  without 
the  least  earnestness  of  mind,  simply  external  performance 
of  duty  without  any  co-opeiation  of  the  conscience  and 
heart. 

*  The  authorised  version  has  been  purposely  not  followed  in  this 
passage,  but  a  more  literal  translation  of  Luther's  words  "  gerecht," 
"  gerechtigkeit," — as  the  use  of  the  words  "just,"  "justify,"  and 
"righteousness,"  is  confusing.  The  terms  adopted  by  Dr.  Young 
("Life  and  Light  of  Men,"  p.  161,  &c.),  "right,"  'Tightened,"  "right- 
ness  or  rightemngness,"  would  perhaps  best  convey  the  meaning  to 
English  readeis.  It  is  necessary  to  call  attention  to  the  sense  in  which 
Luther  uses,  the  word  "justice."  He  says  further  :  "  And  now  as  much 
as  I  had  formerly  hated  that  word,  the  justice  of  God,  so  much  did  I 
now  love  it  and  extol  it  as  the  sweetest  of  all  words  to  me.  .  .  . 
Afterwards  I  read  Augustine,  '  On  the  Spirit  and  the  Letter,'  where  I 
found  that  he  too  interpreted  the  justice  of  God  in  a  similar  way,  as 
that  with  which  God  endues  us  when  He  justifies  us.  And  although 
this  was  as  yet  but  imperfectly  expressed,  it  was  nevertheless  satisfac- 
tory that  the  justice  of  God  was  taught  to  be  that  by  which  we  are 
justified."— TR. 


INDULGENCES.  1 1 

He  who  laid  bare  the  essential  falseness  of  the  existing 
Church  system,  and  set  himself  with  holy  zeal  to  restore 
to  religion  her  forgotten  sincerity  and  defunct  faith,  was 
not  merely  opening  a  controversy,  he  was  making  a  schism 
in  the  world.  The  "  good  old  times "  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  as  seen  from  this  point  of  view,  are  the  most  odious 
of  all  times,  not  even  the  notorious  eighteenth  century 
excepted.  The  corruption  of  the  Church  makes  one  shudder. 
She  displays  the  wild  fruits  of  a  conception  of  religion  with- 
out earnestness,  faith,  or  shame.  He  who  was  the  centre 
of  the  ancient  teaching  of  the  Church,  Christ  the  Redeemer, 
who  had  saved  men  from  sin  by  his  blood,  and  reconciled 
the  avenging  God  of  the  old  covenant,  was  entirely  lost 
sight  of,  and  a  shameless  abuse  of  holy  things  prevailed 
everywhere. 

In  this  state  of  things  lay  the  great  enigma  which  dis- 
tracted the  times ;  the  faithful  were  filled  with  indignation, 
and  the  rest  sent  empty  away.  The  issues  of  Luther's 
spiritual  conflicts  in  his  narrow  cell  were  of  world-wide 
import ;  the  sort  of  Christianity  and  Church  polity  which 
had  hitherto  prevailed  was  done  away  with.  Even  the 
Romish  Church,  when  restored  at  the  Council  of  Trent, 
quietly  laid  aside  her  old  practices  on  these  vital  points, 
and  adopted  a  conception  of  them  which,  while  it  steered 
clear  of  Lutheran  one-sidedness,  completely  disowned  the 
attitude  she  had  maintained  from  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  century. 

The  doctrine  of  indulgences,  according  to  which  men 
could  be  absolved  from  any  sin  by  the  payment  of  money, 
the  most  outward  of  all  outward  acts,  the  mind  having 
no  part  in  the  transaction,  was  the  most  glaring  instance 
of  the  abuses  which  had  arisen  in  the  Church ;  and  when 
Luther  afterwards  opposed  it,  it  was  not  only  because,  like 
many  others,  he  was  offended  by  the  shameless  extortions 
and  characters  of  the  dealers  in  indulgences,  but  because  the 
practice  had  a  close  connection  with  the  question  on  which 
he  had  passed  through  the  severest  struggles.  Others 
were  vexed  that  Tetzel  should  extort  so  much  money  from 
Germany,  or  thought  it  a  disgrace  that  Rome  chose  to  levy 
such  heavy  contributions  on  the  stupid  Germans,  while  she 
did  not  dare  to  carry  it  so  far  in  other  countries.  But  this 
was  but  a  superficial  view,  and  Luther's  "  Theses  "  are  some- 
thing very  different  from  an  angry  protest  against  a  growing 


12  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

abuse  ;  they  bear  the  stamp  of  his  whole  religious  system, 
based  upon  the  Pauline  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  and 
the  Augustinian  doctrine  of  the  election  of  grace  ;  they  set 
forth  an  entirely  different  view  of  life  and  of  the  relation  of 
men  to  God  and  the  Church,  and  had  a  far  deeper  signifi- 
cance than  a  mere  attack  upon  the  traffic  in  indulgences  as 
an  abuse. 

Luther's  great  mental  development  was  completed  in 
the  monastery  at  Erfurt.  If,  now  that  he  was  at  peace  with 
himself,  he  should  go  forth  into  the  world  and  be  placed 
in  a  position  favourable  for  the  exercise  of  his  talents,  a 
tremendous  commotion  might  be  looked  for.  They  could 
not  be  developed  in  a  monastery  ;  they  could  but  be  stunted  ; 
the  power  of  his  words  which  arose  from  the  depth  of  his 
convictions,  the  force  of  his  teachings  and  his  writings, 
his  mysterious  influence  upon  men,  could  only  be  developed 
in  the  world  without.  Just  at  this  time  an  opportunity  was 
afforded  him  of  testing  his  powers  ;  he  was  called  to  the 
newly  founded  university  of  Wittenberg,  in  order  that  he 
might,  for  a  time,  devote  himself  entirely  to  academic 
teaching  and  preaching  beyond  the  walls  of  the  monastery. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1508-1520. 

Call  to  Wittenberg,  1508. — Journey  to  Rome,  1510. — The  Indulgence 
of  1517. — Attempts  of  Leo  X.  (elected  Pope  1513)  at  Mediation. 
— Cajetan  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  October,  1518.— Miltitz's  Dis- 
cussion with  Luther  at  Akenburg,  1519. —Disputation  at  Leipzig, 
27th  June  to  I3th  July,  1519. — The  Turning-point  with  Luther. 

'"PHE  university  of  Wittenberg,  the  creation  of  Frederic 
J-  the  Wise,  had  been  founded  in  1502,  entirely  in  the 
modern  Humanistic  spirit ;  indeed,  to  found  a  university  at 
that  period,  was  to  create  an  organ  for  the  modern  tend- 
encies. Luther  was  called  to  it  through  the  mediation  of 
Staupitz,  and  arrived  there  at  the  close  of  1508.  Up  to 
this  time  he  had  shown  a  tendency  to  gloomy  reserve, 
which  was  not  natural  to  his  character.  At  Erfurt  he  had 
been  entirely  the  monk  who  renounces  the  world,  and  knows 
no  other  calling  than  the  solitary  and  earnest  conflict  with 
God  and  his  conscience.  This  was  obvious  from  his 
appearance,  and  yet  no  one  was  better  adapted  to  influence 
the  world  and  men.  His  new  position  introduced  him  into 
an  arena  for  which  he  possessed  incomparable  gifts.  The 
fire  of  his  character,  his  talents  for  writing  and  speaking, 
now  first  came  into  play.  He  was  not  then  at  all  conscious 
of  his  powers.  For  the  first  few  years  it  was  agony  to  him 
to  ascend  the  pulpit  stairs  ;  when  at  length  he  yielded  to 
the  persuasions  of  his  friend  Staupitz,  he  said,  "  You  will 
kill  me ;  I  shall  not  go  on  with  it  for  a  quarter  of  a  year ; " 
and  even  in  1519  he  declared  that  nothing  sustained  him 
in  the  office  of  a  preacher  but  obedience  to  another  will, 
the  will  of  God. 

It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  he  overcame  the  shyness 
which  he  took  from  the  parental  home  into  the  monastery, 
and  thence  into  the  world,  but  he  distinguished  himself  from 


14  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

the  very  first.  Literary  celebrities  did  not  grow  up  then  so 
fast  as  they  do  now,  but  Luther  soon  became  known  in 
his  own  circle.  His  preaching  made  a  very  unusual  impres- 
sion, not  only  on  account  of  his  new  doctrines,  but  because 
his  teaching  came  from  the  very  depths  of  his  soul,  and 
was  the  outcome  of  a  deeply  agitated  spirit.  It  was  very 
different  from  the  customary  drawl  of  empty  and  hackneyed 
phrases,  or  the  reading  of  old  manuscripts  by  other  people  ; 
for  his  preaching  came  from  a  fiery  soul,  every  word  was 
spoken  in  holy  earnest,  and  therefore  produced  an  immense 
effect  upon  young  and  old.  Whenever  he  preached  the 
church  was  crammed  full  up  to  the  pulpit,  and  he  was 
listened  to  with  breathless  attention.  This  period  was  also 
of  importance  to  himself;  he  shook  off  much  of  the  monastic 
reserve  which  clung  to  him,  his  monkish  acerbity  decreased, 
he  was  no  longer  a  monk  in  the  sense  in  which  he  had  been 
one. 

The  young  teacher  and  preacher  was  not  only  honoured, 
he  was  almost  spoiled  by  the  Elector  and  the  public.  The 
convictions  at  which  he  had  arrived  at  Erfurt  became 
clearer  and  more  mature.  He  now  took  a  wider  and  more 
independent  view  of  the  central  point  of  his  theological 
ideas,  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  and  specially 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  that  part  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment which  most  fully  unfolds  the  subject,  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans.  He  was  now  ready  with  his  system ;  it  was  not 
in  contradiction  to  that  of  the  Church — indeed,  he  was  sup- 
ported by  her  great  authorities,  Paul  and  Augustine ;  it 
was  very  far  from  being  heretical,  yet  it  was  opposed  to 
the  Pelagian  Church  system,  though  the  opposition  as  such 
had  not  yet  appeared. 

In  1510  Luther  set  out  for  Rome,  either  because  he  was 
charged  with  some  errand  for  his  order,*  or  to  fulfil  the 
vow  made  while  yet  a  boy,  that  he  might  "  find  peace  and 
comfort  for  his  conscience; "  perhaps  for  both  reasons.  The 
journey  was  a  marked  event  in  his  life  ;  the  monk  who  had 
hitherto  lived  in  a  small  territory  now  for  the  first  time 
went  forth  into  the  wide  world.  He  passed  through  a  great  part 
of  his  own  country,  made  acquaintance  with  South  Germany, 
Bavaria,  Austria,  and  Italy,  and  with  this  fulfilment  of  his 

*  Jurgens  observes  that  Luther  nowhere  mentions  any  commission 
from  his  order. 


LUTHER  AT  ROME.  15 

boyish  longings,  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  closes  the  first 
period  of  his  life.  It  is  not  correct  to  say  that  this  pilgrim- 
age turned  him  into  the  bitterest  enemy  of  the  Papacy, 
after  being  its  most  devoted  adherent.  For  years  after 
this  we  find  him  strictly  retaining  the  same  relation  to  the 
supreme  authority  in  Christendom  which  had  always  been 
characteristic  of  him;  and  even  in  1517  and  1518  he  ex- 
pressly makes  a  distinction  between  the  Papacy  in  its 
existing  form  and  its  original  vocation  as  head  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  He  cannot  have  been  in  1510  in  the 
path  which  he  had  scarcely  entered  in  1517.  We  by  no 
means  find  that  the  sight  of  Rome  produced  so  rapid  a 
change  in  him ;  his  veneration  for  the  majesty  of  the 
Church  was  too  great.  We  learn  from  himself  that,  true 
pilgrim  as  he  was,  at  the  first  sight  of  the  eternal  city  he 
threw  himself  upon  the  ground,  and  exclaimed,  with  hands 
uplifted  to  heaven  :  "  I  greet  thee,  holy  Rome,  thrice  holy, 
from  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  which  has  been  shed  in  thee." 
And  he  adds :  "  I  did  not  then  know  that  I  was  to  be  the 
hermit  about  whom  there  was  a  prophecy  that  he  would  rise  j 
up  against  the  Church."  Keen  observer  as  he  was,  he 
soon  saw  more  than  was  good  for  his  veneration,  and  then, 
of  course,  made  the  observations  on  the  actual  state  of 
things  at  Rome  which  he  afterwards  wove  into  the  fearful 
accusations  contained  in  his  writings  against  Rome,  espe- 
cially in  his  work  addressed  to  the  German  nobles ;  but  they 
did  not  then  change  his  fundamental  views,  nor  estrange 
him  from  the  ancient  Church,  for  it  was  not  until  long  after- 
wards that  he  was  convinced  that  she  was  incapable  of 
reform.  One  thing  is  very  evident,  the  aversion  of  the  good 
German  to  the  Italians.  Italian  cunning  and  knavery,  the 
abundance  of  fine  but  meaningless  words  in  the  language, 
the  external  softness  and  polish,  which  barely  conceal  the 
hollowness  within — all  this  produced  an  irritating  effect  on 
the  nerves  of  the  Thuringian  peasant.  In  his  bitterest 
writings  the  vices  of  the  Italians  play  a  conspicuous  part. 

Until  the  beginning  of  1517  he  lived  at  Wittenberg, 
teaching  and  preaching.  Now  and  then  he  was  sent  on 
a  journey.  With  regard  to  the  main  point,  he  continued  to 
cultivate  his  mind  and  to  complete  his  theological  studies. 
Between  1509  and  1517  the  new  Indulgence  was  pro- 
claimed. ' 

There  was   nothing  so    very   repulsive   in  the  doctrine 


1 6  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

and  practice  of  indulgence  in  the  ancient  Church.  Moral 
repentance  was  held  to  be  the  main  thing ;  but  the  dan- 
gerous addition  had  been  made  that  outward  signs  of 
repentance  were  pleasing  to  God.  Afterwards  release 
might  be  obtained  from  the  performance  of  such  signs — 
fasting,  scourging,  and  going  on  pilgrimages— by  the  pay- 
ment of  money,  which,  however,  was  not  meant  to  absolve 
from  sin,  but  was  considered  as  a  sign  of  the  inward  change 
of  mind.  But  this  old  doctrine  of  the  Church  had  been 
greatly  altered,  and  in  the  fourteenth  century,  during  the 
Babylonish  exile,  financial  considerations  had  been  allowed 
to  prevail  over  moral  ones.  At  Avignon  the  popes  in  some 
measure  consoled  themselves  for  the  pain  of  exile  by 
inventing  all  possible  means  of  enriching  the  pontifical 
chair  at  Avignon,  not  at  Rome.  John  XXII.  came  from 
Cahors,  which  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  held  to  be  the  seat 
of  the  cleverest  financiers.  It  was  there  that  the  practice 
arose  which  made  such  a  disturbance  in  Germany  that  the 
unconditional  abolition  of  it  was  demanded  by  the  Germans 
at  Constance  and  Basle.  "  It  is  most  abominable,"  said  the 
Germans  at  Constance  who  burnt  Huss ;  "  the  last  popes 
have  put  a  price  upon  sins  like  shopkeepers'  wares,  and 
have  sold  remission  of  sins  by  means  of  indulgences  for 
jingling  coin  ! "  It  ended,  however,  in  a  proposition  for 
restrictions  upon  indulgences ;  but  such  a  system  -cannot 
be  restricted,  it  must  be  abolished.  The  abuse  continued. 
An  urgent  appeal  was  again  made  to  Pope  Martin  V.,  who 
was  elected  at  Constance,  to  put  an  end  to  it :  this  he 
agreed  to  do,  but  did  nothing.  Indeed,  a  sacrilege  was 
practised  which  would  have  deserved  that  name  before 
any  religious  systems  existed :  general  indulgences  were  pro- 
claimed and  general  Church  taxes  imposed  ;  a  pardon  was 
granted  to  merchants,  bankers,  and  bill-brokers,  for  farming 
the  tax,  and  they  undertook  the  traffic  in  pardon  for 
sins  for  whole  countries.  It  seemed  as  if  all  the  warnings 
of  the  councils  were  forgotten,  and  everything  that  had 
given  most  offence  was  carried  to  the  greatest  extent. 
Thus  a  tariff  of  taxes  was  formed  for  all  manner  of  sins, 
like  the  taxes  cancellarm  ecclesice  Romance,  which  appeared 
at  Herzogenbusch  in  1517.  In  Tetzel's  instructions  sodomy 
was  rated  at  twelve  ducats,  sacrilege  at  nine,  murder  at 
seven,  witchcraft  at  six,  murder  of  parents  or  brothers 
and  sisters,  at  four.  From  the  time  of  Innocent  yill.  you 


PARDON  TICKETS.  \"J 

could   buy    immunity   from   purgatory,  and   in   1507  and 
1512  Julius  II.  extended  indulgence  even  to  heresy. 

Between  1500  and  1517  five  extraordinary  indulgences 
were  proclaimed,  and  that  at  a  time  when  men's  minds 
were  beginning  to  be  stirred  up  against  them.  It  was 
quite  incomprehensible.  The  Church  was  acting  on  the 
shameless  principle  of  the  chamberlain  of  Innocent  VIII., 
who  said,  "  God  willeth  not  the  death  of  a  sinner,  but 
that  he  should  pay  and  live." 

We  still  have  originals  of  the  pardon  tickets  of  that 
time.*  There  is  one  of  1517  for  example,  on  which  there 
is  a  figure  of  a  Dominican  monk,  with  a  cross,  crown  of 
thorns,  and  a  burning  heart.  In  the  upper  corners  is  a 
nailed  hand  of  the  Saviour,  and  in  the  lower  ones  a  nailed 
foot.  On  the  front  are  the  words,  "  Pope  Leo  X.  Prayer. 
This  is  th,e  length  and  breadth  of  the  wounds  of  Christ  in 
his  holy  side.  As  often  as  any  one  kisses  it  he  has  a  seven 
years'  indulgence."  On  the  reverse  side  :  "  The  cross 
measured  forty  times  makes  the  height  of  Christ  in  his 
humanity.  He  who  kisses  it  is  preserved  for  seven  days 
from  sudden  death,  falling  sickness,  and  apoplexy." 

The  dealers  in  indulgences  put  up  such  notices  as  this  : 
"  The  red  indulgence  cross  with  the  Pope's  arms  suspended 
on  it  has  the  same  virtue  as  the  cross  of  Christ."  "  The 
pardon  makes  those  who  accept  it  cleaner  than  baptism, 
purer  even  than  Adam  in  a  state  of  innocence  in  Paradise." 
"  The  dealer  in  pardons  saves  more  people  than  Peter,"  &c. 

Thus  the  abuse  went  on,  until  it  became  madness,  and 
it  had  been  practised  five  times  on  the  same  generation. 
Some  were  disgusted  that  the  sacred  mysteries  of  the 
Church  should  be  thus  abused,  others  appealed  to  the 
former  decrees  of  the  Church,  which  had  condemned  the 
scandal.  That  Germany  specially  should  be  laid  under  con- 
tribution on  account  of  her  political  disruption  was  felt  to 
be  degrading.  Still  the  money  that  was  required,  nominally 
for  a  war  with  the  Turks,  flowed  in  streams  to  Rome ;  the 
bishops  complained  that  "  hundredweights  of  German  coin 
flew  light  as  feathers  over  the  Alps,  and  that  no  bearer  of 
the  heaviest  burdens,  not  even  Atlas  himself,  could  drag 
such  heaps  of  money."  So  said  the  spiritual  princes  whose 
material  interests  suffered  from  it ;  and  it  was  no  wonder 

•  Jiirgens. 
C 


1 8  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

that  the  temporal  princes  fully  sympathized  in  their  dis- 
pleasure at  seeing  money  going  out  of  the  country  on  so 
large  a  scale  for  no  useful  purpose  whatever. 

Luther  was  not  influenced  by  these  external  reasons.  A 
faith  had  grown  up  within  him  which  was  utterly  at  variance 
with  the  principle  of  this  outrage.  The  grounds  on  which 
others  opposed  it  lay  on  the  surface ;  his  resistance  to 
it  came  from  the  depths  of  his  soul,  and  therefore  he 
brought  the  struggle  to  an  issue  on  other  grounds,  and 
raised  the  fundamental  quesiion,  "  Which  then  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church,  that  preached  by  Luther  or  by 
Tetzel  ?  " 

In  1517,  John  Tetzel,  with  his  assistant,  Bartholomew 
Rauch,  appeared  in  Central  Germany  as  a  dealer  in 
indulgences  under  the  protection  of  the  Elector  Albert 
of  Mayence.  He  had  been  preceded  by  annoying  mounte- 
bank-like notices.  He  found  moderate  support  in  the 
Albertine  part  of  Saxony  under  Duke  George,  but  in  the 
Electorate,  under  Frederic  the  Wise,  he  found  no  favour. 
He  set  up  his  shop  at  Leipzig  and  in  the  surrounding 
places,  and  thus  came  into  Luther's  immediate  neighbour- 
hood. When  he  arrived  at  Jiiterbogk,  near  Wittenberg, 
Luther  was  seized  with  indignation.  He  had  already 
admonished  some  of  the  bishops  to  do  their  duty  by  taking 
measures  against  this  abuse,  he  had  publicly  thundered 
against  it  in  the  pulpit,  when  on  October  3151  he  affixed  his 
ninety-five  Theses  against  Tetzel's  doctrine  of  indulgences 
to  the  church  door  at  Wittenberg.  In  these  he  unfolded 
his  views  of  true  repentance,  as  they  had  become  clear, 
to  him  since  his  monastic  life  at  Erfurt ;  they  did  not 
express  the  least  enmity  to  the  Pope,  but  were  so  much 
the  more  bitter  against  "  the  Indulgence  preacher's  shame- 
less and  wanton  words,"  which  he  strictly  distinguished 
from  the  doctrine  of  the  Church.  The  Theses  made  a  deep 
impression  in  Germany  ;  the  state  of  the  public  mind  was 
such  that  an  insignificant  cause  might  have  led  to  great 
results,  and  the  cause  was  not  insignificant.  Many  con- 
troversial writings  appeared:  some  sided  with  Luther;  there 
were  those  who  defended  Tetzel ;  few  had  courage  to  defend 
the  practice  as  it  existed,  but  Luther's  sharply  defined  doc- 
trine of  the  uselessness  of  good  works  gave  rise  to  much  dis- 
cussion. Wimpina  at  Frankfort  on  the  Oder,  Hogstraten 
at  Cologne,  Eck  at  Ingolstadt,  exclaimed  against  the 


POPE   LEO   X.  19 

heretic  ;  for  others,  the  matter  was  but  one  more  of  those 
intestine  paper  wars,  of  which  there  were  so  many  instances 
among  learned  theologians  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  only 
difference  was,  that  this  time  the  question  at  issue  was  a 
vital  and  fundamental  one  for  religion  itself,  not  a  mere 
scholastic  difference,  and  the  public  mind  was  still  deeply 
agitated  by  the  contest  between  the  Humanists  and  the 
Dominicans,  out  of  which  during  the  previous  year  the 
Epistulce  Virorwn  Obscurorum  had  arisen.  Meanwhile 
the  first  attack  came  from  Rome.  Silvester  Prierias,  the 
fanatical  Dominican  who  had  just  prevented  the  Reuchlin 
trial  from  being  decided  in  favour  of  the  accused,  issued 
a  publication  against  Luther's  heretical  doctrine  of  repent- 
ance. It  was  not  of  much  importance  ;  Eck's  was  much 
cleverer,  but  the  significant  fact  was  that  a  voice  should 
proceed  from  Rome  before  it  was  perhaps  wise  for  the  Church 
to  take  part  in  the  discussion. 

An  accusation  was  brought  against  Luther  at  Rome,  and 
Prierias  was  called  as  a  theological  authority  in  the  court 
in  which  it  was  tried.  Hot-headed  people  thought  that 
sentence  of  excommunication  must  follow,  but  this  Leo  X. 
declined  to  pronounce.  He  was  a  great  Maecenas  to  artists 
and  learned  men,  and  was  too  much  of  a  Medici  not 
to  be  entirely  indifferent  to  theological  quarrels. 

It  was  one  of  the  tragical  links  in  the  chain  of  the 
history  of  the  Church  at  this  momentous  period  that  a 
man  was  at  her  head  who  was  personally  entirely  a  stranger 
to  the  great  questions  which  agitated  her.  In  Reuchlin's 
case  his  idea  had  been  not  to  injure  a  learned  man,  and  at 
first  he  had  much  the  same  idea  about  Luther,  not 
from  clemency,  but  indifference.  He  looked  down  upon 
the  squabbles  of  the  people  with  the  princely  contempt  of 
the  Medicis,  never  suspecting  that  they  might  give  rise  to 
a  conflagration  which  might  reach  his  triple  crown.  His 
desire  was  to  see  them  peaceably  settled. 

A  Diet  was  convened  at  Augsburg.  The  Papal  Legate 
had  a  number  of  demands  to  make  at  it  which  concerned  the 
German  treasury,  and  they  would  perhaps  be  less  readily 
granted  if  Rome  took  severe  measures  against  a  German 
monk,  who  was  in  favour  with  an  influential  prince  like 
Frederic  the  Wise,  who  sided  with  those  who  were  against 
the  levy  of  Church  taxes.  The  Cardinal  Legate  Cajetan  was 
therefore  commissioned  to  get  the  question  settled  with 


20  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

as  little  disturbance  as  possible.  He  was  to  send  for  the 
monk,  talk  it  over  with  him,  and  try  to  persuade  him  not 
to  make  any  further  disturbance,  and  thus  put  an  end  to 
this  controversy. 

In  answer  to  a  justification  of  himself  which  Luther  had 
sent  to  Rome  in  May,  1518,  couched  in  the  most  modest 
tone,  he  had  received  an  invitation  to  come  there.  He 
says :  "  When  I  was  looking  for  a  blessing,  a  storm  broke 
over  me."  On  all  sides  people  were  interesting  them- 
selves about  Luther,  and  the  result  was  that  the  invitation 
was  changed  into  a  summons  to  defend  himself  before  the 
Cardinal  Legate  at  Augsburg. 

The  Legate  does  not  seem  to  have  carried  out  the  papal 
commission  very  strictly ;  he  certainly  did  not  act  the 
part  of  a  kindly  diplomatist,  but  that  of  a  proud  spiritual 
prince,  for  whom  it  was  a  great  condescension  to  enter 
into  discussion  with  an  insignificant  monk  at  all.  Be- 
sides this,  he,  as  a  rigid  Thomist,  could  not  abstain 
from  opposing  the  nominalistic  monk.  At  first  Luther 
was  constrained  and  embarrassed,  but  as  the  discussion 
gradually  took  the  form  of  a  theological  disputation,  he 
grew  warm  and  bold,  and  Cajetan  declared  that  he  felt  quite 
awe-stricken  in  his  presence.  In  answer  to  the  decrees 
of  the  Church  and  the  tenets  of  the  Dominicans,  Luther 
brought  forward  Paul  and  Augustine,  who  indeed  were 
strangers  to  the  Church  of  that  day  ;  he  would  hear  nothing 
of  recantation,  and  so  they  parted,  each  feeling  that  he  was 
himself  in  the  right,  and  that  the  other  had  not  so  con- 
ducted himself  as  to  promote  peace. 

Thus  failed  the  first  attempt  to  settle  the  business  by 
diplomacy.  This  was  in  October,  1518.  Luther  fled  from 
Augsburg  by  night,  fearing,  and  not  without  reason,  for  his 
personal  safety;  he  rode  hastily  through  by-ways  back  to 
Wittenberg,  and  the  controversy  continued.  Leo  was  still 
of  opinion  that  the  time  was  not  come  for  extreme  measures, 
and  a  second  attempt  was  therefore  made. 

Carl  von  Miltitz,  a  native  of  Saxony,  an  adroit  man  of 
the  world,  was  now  selected  to  settle  the  difficulty.  It 
was  the  Pope's  custom  on  New  Year's  Day  to  present 
one  of  the  most  eminent  princes  with  a  consecrated  golden 
rose.  This  year  the  Elector  Frederic  of  Saxony  was  to 
have  it,  the  man  who  had  founded  the  modern  Humanist 
university  of  Wittenberg,  and  undoubtedly  favoured  Luther. 


MILTITZ.  2 1 

The  Nuncio,  Miltitz,  was  to  be  the  bearer  of  it,  and  to  take 
the  opportunity  of  seeing  Luther,  as  if  accidentally,  and  to 
repeat  the  attempt  made  by  Cajetan. 

Miltitz  was  no  theologian,  nor  a  man  of  any  system  or 
school,  and  he  was  therefore  specially  adapted  for  his 
mission.  He  was  clever,  his  manners  were  polished  and 
agreeable,  and,  when  desirable,  he  could  display  a  winning 
cordiality. 

After  the  failure  of  the  conference  at  Augsburg,  Luther 
had  issued  the  usual  appdlatio  a  papa  male  informato  ad 
papam  melius  informandum,  and  as  this  produced  no  effect, 
he  entered  a  second  appeal,  this  time  from  the  Pope  to 
a  General  Council.  It  was  unusual  for  a  simple  monk  to 
make  so  determined  an  appeal  to  the  highest  court,  but  it 
was  not  prohibited  or  illegal. 

Miltitz  arrived  at  the  beginning  of  January,  1519,  and 
on  the  3rd  he  had  a  conversation  with  Luther.  He  had 
entered  upon  his  task  with  great  skill.  On  his  way  he  had 
been  rather  communicative,  had  complained  in  large  com- 
panies of  the  scandal  occasioned  to  the  Church  by  mis- 
chievous individuals,  asserted  that  Tetzel's  proceedings 
were  not  approved  at  Rome,  and  was  so  hard  upon  him 
that  no  one  doubted  his  sincerity.  He  opened  his  heart  to 
Luther  in  the  most  unreserved  manner,  said  that  he  was 
astonished  to  find  the  celebrated  doctor  a  young  and 
vigorous  man,  instead  of  an  old  theologian,  and  that  he 
would  not  undertake  to  conduct  him  to  Rome  with  twenty- 
five  thousand  armed  men,  for  he  had  observed  everywhere 
that  for  every  adherent  of  the  Pope,  Luther  had  three  ; 
he  himself  was  entirely  of  Luther's  mind.  Having  thus,  as 
he  thought,  gained  his  opponent's  confidence,  he  proceeded 
with  his  plan.  He  told  Luther  that  it  did  not  become 
him,  an  isolated  monk,  to  carry  on  a  contest  like  this  with 
the  Pope  single-handed.  He  had  occasioned  his  Holiness 
much  uneasiness,  and  it  was  his  duty  to  make  amends. 
Luther  was  still  within  the  bounds  of  the  mediaeval  Church, 
and  held  a  monk's  opinions  of  the  Pope's  authority. 
This  mode  of  approaching  him  was  therefore  safer  than 
the  imperious  style  adopted  by  Cajetan.  Miltitz  knew  how 
to  attack  Luther  on  the  ground  on  which  he  was  still  a 
monk — respect  for  the  authority  of  the  Church. 

A  formal  agreement  was  entered  into  ;  and  it  is  significant 
that  the  Romish  Church  already,  to  a  certain  extent,  stipu- 


THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

fith  the  simple  Augustine  monk  as  one  power  with 

a. 

(Luther  himself  informed  his  protector  the  Elector, 

fere  two  clauses  in  the  agreement. 

1.  "  Both  parties  are  forbidden  to  preach  or  write  on 
the  subject,  or  to  take  any  further  action  upon  it. 

2.  "Miltitz  is  to  communicate  the  exact  position  of  affairs 
to  the   Pope,  and   the   Pope  will    commission   a   learned 
bishop  to  investigate  the  controverted  questions." 

"  And  then,"  Luther  adds,  "  if  I  am  convicted  of  error, 
I  shall  willingly  retract  it,  and  not  weaken  the  power  and 
glory  of  the  holy  Roman  Church."  He  also  consented  to 
write  a  second  letter  to  the  Pope,  to  apologize  for  having 
been  so  sharp  and  hasty,  and  to  say  that  he  had  no  desire 
to  injure  the  Church  as  such. 

He  went,  therefore,  to  the  verge  of  retracting,  but  on 
conditions.  His  silence  was  to  be  dependent  on  the 
silence  of  others,  and  he  declared  that  he  would  retract 
when  refuted  —  not  before.  This  attitude  was  not  a 
mediaeval  Catholic  one.  Huss  also  had  *>aid  at  Constance, 
"  Let  them  refute  me,"  and  instead  of  this  he  had  been  con- 
demned. This  proposition  was  the  germ  of  Protestantism. 
From  the  Church's  stand-point,  no  such  opposition,  no 
such  conditional  subjection  as  this  could  be  tolerated. 
When  authority  spoke  the  individual  must  give  way. 
Luther  had  already  taken  one  step  beyond  what  may  be 
called  the  boundary  line  of  the  mediaeval  Church. 

One  thing,  however,  was  attained:  there  was  an  armistice; 
there  was  a  cessation  of  the  scandalous  disputing  and 
wrangling  which  so  disturbed  the  Pope  ;  a  curb  was  put  on 
the  bitterness  of  party  spirit.  But  the  over-zealous  friends 
of  the  Church  were  very  soon  again  to  disturb  her  peace. 
The  armistice  was  interrupted  by  a  zealot  of  the  Church 
herself. 

In  March,  1519,  Eck  proclaimed  a  great  discussion  at 
Leipzig.  Some  of  the  Theses  were  aimed  at  Carlstadt, 
who  was  invited  as  opponent.  But  when  they  were  more 
narrowly  examined,  it  was  evident  that  they  were  really 
intended  for  Luther,  not  Carlstadt.  This  was  a  virtual 
though  not  a  formal  breach  of  the  armistice.  Luther 
declared  at  once  that  he  was  released  from  his  promise. 
"  This  wrong-headed  fellow,"  he  writes,  "  is  fuming  against 
me  and  my  writings ;  but  he  challenges  some  one  else 


DISPUTATION  AT  LEIPZIG.  23 

as  his  adversary  and  attacks  him ; " — "  but  this  discus- 
sion will  turn  out  badly  for  the  Roman  claims  and 
usages,  and  these  are  the  staff  upon  which  the  Church  is 
leaning." 

The  celebrated  discussion  at  Leipzig  began  on  June  2jih. 
1519.*  Eck,  Luther,  Melancthon,  and  Carlstadt  appeared 
with  their  friends.  The  discussion  was  opened  with  all  the 
pomp  with  which  these  disputations  used  to  be  conducted. 
There  seemed  to  be  a  feeling  that  it  was  not  an  ordinary 
scholastic  tournament,  but  that  questions  of  world-wide 
importance  were  at  issue.  The  chief  combatants  were 
each  in  his  way  excellent  disputants.  Eck  was  known  as 
a  remarkably  skilful  debater,  and  was  at  least  a  match  for 
Luther  in  the  discussion,  while  in  knowledge  of  philosophy 
and  theology,  ecclesiastical  history  and  law,  he  was  decidedly 
his  superior.  Luther  had  as  yet  scarcely  approached  the 
latter  subjects,  and  now  first  learnt  their  importance.  His 
strength  was  of  another  sort,  in  which  Eck  was  not  equal  to 
him. 

Beyond  the  recent  centuries  Eck's  knowledge  was  thread- 
bare, and  where  Luther  was  quite  at  home  he  was  almost  a 
stranger.  Luther  was  better  acquainted  with  Augustine 
than  with  any  one  else  ;  he  had  also  diligently  read  the  other 
fathers,  both  of  the  East  and  West,  and  the  earnest  study 
of  fifteen  years  had  made  him  perfectly  familiar  with  the 
passages  in  the  Bible  relating  to  the  subject. 

After  Eck  and  Carlstadt  had  disputed  for  the  first  week 
on  free  will,  the  contest  began  with  Luther.  For  two  days 
they  disputed  on  justification  and  good  works  without 
making  any  approach  to  agreement.  On  these  subjects 
Pelagian  and  Augustinian  Christendom  were  in  absolute 
opposition ;  there  was  a  world-wide  difference  which  it  was 
impossible  to  reconcile.  Eck  then  shifted  the  question  to 
the  subject  of  the  papal  authority. 

Luther  maintained  that  proof  was  wanting  that  the  power 
of  the  Pope  of  Rome  was  as  old  as  the  Church  of  Christ. 
This  is  no  longer  a  question  for  us,  but  it  was  one  in  those 

*  The  reports  of  it  are  to  be  found  in  Loscher.  First  a  report 
by  Melancthon,  then  Eck's  letter  to  Hogstraten,  Luther's  own  report, 
and  several  others  ;  then  the  protocol  of  the  discussion  between  Eck 
and  Luther,  in  which  that  held  from  July  4th  to  8th  on  the  Pope's 
supremacy  is  of  interest.  All  the  heresies  are  summed  up  by  Eck  in 
his  letter  to  Hogstraten. 


24  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

days  when  people  believed  in  a  large  number  of  pious 
frauds.  Luther  was  of  opinion  that  the  papal  authority 
was  not  more  than  four  centuries  old,  but  Eck  refuted 
him  at  once,  and  gained  an  advantage  ;  but  when  he  added 
that  the  Papacy  dated  from  the  beginning  of  the  Latin 
Church,  and  that  all  who  were  not  within  the  Church  were 
damned,  he  exposed  himself  to  attack,  and  Luther  at  once 
availed  himself  of  it.  He  asked  where  in  the  Scriptures, 
where  in  the  writings  of  the  early  fathers,  was  there  any 
mention  of  the  Papacy,  and  whether  Eck  believed  that  the 
whole  Greek  Church,  and  her  great  fathers,  such  as  Gregory 
of  Nazienzen  and  Basil  the  Great,  were  damned  ? 

This  embarrassed  Eck,  but  he  soon  recovered  himself, 
and  referred  to  the  councils.  At  Constance,  for  example, 
the  papal  supremacy  had  been  acknowledged  :  did  Luther 
no  longer  adhere  to  the  authority  of  the  councils?  The 
council  had  condemned  Huss  and  his  theses  :  did  he  hold 
that  the  judgment  was  just  or  not?  This  was  a  qucestio 
captiosa.  The  Hussites  were  in  bad  odour  in  Saxony. 
Luther  considered  for  a  moment,  and  then  said  he  thought 
that  the  council  had  condemned  propositions  of  Huss  that 
were  entirely  Christ'an  and  evangelical.  This  occasioned 
great  excitement,  and  Eck  answered  :  "  Then,  worthy  father, 
you  are  to  me  a  heathen  man  and  a  publican." 

Luther  had  now  overstepped  the  boundaries  of  the  Church. 
When  at  Erfurt,  some  work  by  Huss  had  fallen  into  his 
hands,  and,  as  he  read,  he  discovered  with  astonishment 
that  on  many  points  he  agreed  with  the  burnt  heretic. 
Seized  with  anguish,  he  closed  the  book,  and  rushed  from 
it  with  "  a  wounded  heart,"  for  he  thought  that  at  the  mere 
suspicion  that  the  "  cruelly  condemned  man  "  was  right, 
"  the  walls  must  become  black  and  the  sun  veil  his  light ; " 
yet  now  he  had  courageously  confessed  him  and  rejected 
the  recent  authoritative  decision  of  the  Church.  He  had 
been  driven  to  take  one  step  after  another ;  but  one 
authority  remained  for  him,  that  of  the  Scriptures,  the  New 
Testament,  and  that  he  never  rejected.  Thus  this  discus- 
sion led  to  his  defection  from  the  Church,  whose  highest 
authorities  he  no  longer  acknowledged  as  binding.  The 
circumstance  was  of  great  importance  to  him,  for  it  led  to 
his  seeing  clearly  how  fundamentally  he  was  at  variance 
with  the  Church  when  he  sincerely  thought  that  he  was 
strictly  within  her  fold. 


THE  TURNING-POINT.  25 

The  two  opposite  modes  of  thought,  the  utter  irrecon- 
cilability of  which  was  first  developed  at  Leipzig,  had 
nothing  in  common  with  the  party  conflicts  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  very  principle  of  authority  was  attacked, 
the  foundations  of  the  rock  of  Peter  were  shaken,  and 
its  historical  title  distinctly  denied.  This  had  never  been 
thus  declared  before  the  whole  nation.  From  this  time 
any  attempt  to  hush  the  matter  up  was  quite  vain.  Luther 
did  not  retreat  even  when  he  expected  to  share  the  fate  of 
Huss.  But  circumstances  were  not  the  same  as  at  the 
time  of  the  Council  of  Constance. 

The  favour  of  the  nation  increased  in  proportion  as 
Luther's  defection  was  decisive.  He  had  never  been  weaker 
than  when  negotiating  with  Miltitz — never  stronger  than  after 
the  discussion.  All  the  Humanist  party,  then  the  dominant 
party  among  the  learned  men  of  the  day,  and  among  them 
the  best  spirits  of  the  nation,  were  on  his  side.  The  stormy 
and  passionate  youth,  who  had  hitherto  regarded  the 
contest  with  quiet  indifference  or  contempt,  now  began  to 
take  an  interest  in  it,  and  to  show  that  they  did  so.  Ulrich 
von  Hutten,  their  boldest  mouthpiece,  and  politically  and 
nationally  Luther's  alter  ego,  openly  joined  his  cause. 
Hutten  was  the  most  elegant,  most  polished  member  of 
the  younger  school  of  Humanists,  who  reverenced  Reuchlin 
and  Erasmus  as  their  models.  In  July,  1517,  he  had 
reached  the  highest  summit  of  ambition — he  had  been 
crowned  by  the  Emperor  as  the  first  German  poet.  He 
was  an  impersonation  of  the  Humanistic  spirit ;  yet  a 
feeling  began  increasingly  to  creep  over  him  that  there  was 
something  unreal  in  his  culture,  that  he  was  not  true  to 
himself  while  he  spoke  and  wrote  in  a  foreign  tongue.  It 
was  entirely  in  a  Humanistic  spirit  that  he  said  to  a  monk, 
on  hearing  of  the  doings  at  Wittenberg,  "  Devour  one 
another  that  you  may  be  devoured  by  yourselves,"  and 
then  wrote  to  Hermann  von  Neuenaar  :  "  My  special  desire 
is  that  our  enemies  may  live  as  much  as  possible  in  discord, 
and  persist  in  destroying  one  another.  Perish  all  those  who 
hinder  the  dawning  culture,  that  the  glorious  virtues  they 
have  so  often  trodden  under  loot  may  at  length  take  root."* 

But  he  learnt  to  think  otherwise.  On  closer  observation 
he  found  that  it  was  something  more  than  an  ordinary 

•    Strauss,  Hutten. 


26  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

monkish  quarrel,  and  he  had  above  all  learnt  from  Luther 
the  wonderful  power  of  the  German  tongue ;  he  had  seen 
how  this  man  electrified  the  nation  with  the  force  of  his 
words,  and  he  turned  completely  round.  He  wrote  to 
Luther :  "  I  will  renounce  all  my  poetic  fame,  O  monk, 
and  follow  thee  like  a  shield-bearer."  He  gave  up  his 
elegant  Latin,  wrote  German  both  in  prose  and  rhyme, 
and  became  a  political  Luther. 

Before  this  Philip  Melancthon  had  joined  Luther,  and 
was  invaluable  as  a  complement  to  him.  In  his  case  the 
Humanist  preponderated  over  the  theologian.  Melancthon 
was  of  incomparable  service  in  the  exposition  and  transla- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  because,  with  all  his  immense  learning, 
he  put  no  preconceived  theological  views  into  the  text. 

Then  he  was  more  cultivated  than  the  Thuringian 
peasant's  son,  and  his  manners  were  more  polished. 

The  discussion  was  also  a  turning-point  for  Luther  in 
his  studies.  It  vexed  him  that  he  had  not  been  able  to 
say  anything  against  the  ecclesiastical  laws  to  which  Eck 
appealed.  He  now  studied  the  history  of  the  Church,  more 
particularly  in  recent  times.  He  made  acquaintance,  during 
the  excitement  in  which  the  discussion  had  left  him,  with 
the  stormy  councils  of  the  fifteenth  century ;  he  saw  how 
nearly  the  nation  had  seen  her  hopes  of  reform  realised,  and 
how  shamefully  she  had  been  deceived.  It  made  a  deeper 
impression  upon  him  than  it  could  ever  have  done  before, 
but  still  it  cost  him  some  pain  to  tear  himself  entirely  away 
from  the  ancient  Church.  He  still  drew  a  distinction 
between  the  Curia  and  the  Ecclesia  Romana,  which  were 
then  really  scarcely  distinguishable  at  all. 

As  he  pursued  his  studies  he  became  more  and  more 
opposed  to  particular  dogmas  which  he  had  not  before 
specially  examined.  At  Leipzig  he  had  disputed  the 
infallibility  of  the  Pope  and  the  councils  ;  he  now  disputed 
the  right  of  the  Pope  to  proclaim  laws,  to  canonise,  and 
to  withhold  the  cup ;  he  protested  against  the  doctrine  of 
purgatory,  and  the  number  of  the  sacraments,  though  he 
had  not  yet  attained  to  the  doctrine  of  two  only.  It 
has  been  proved  that  Huss,  at  Constance,  did  not  maintain 
doctrines  much  more  heretical.  His  doctrines  had  often  been 
confounded  with  those  of  his  disciples,  and  a  good  deal 
ascribed  to  Huss  that  did  not  belong  to  him  ;  we  know  now 
that  in  principle  his  views  did  not  go  much  further  than 


THE  PAPAL   BULL.  27 

the  point  at  which  Luther  had  now  arrived.  Luther  was 
continually  astonished  anew  at  this  unconscious  agree- 
ment. In  1520  he  wrote  to  Spalatin :  "We  are  all 
Hussites  without  knowing  it.  Paul  and  Augustine  are 
Hussites.  I  am  so  amazed  I  know  not  what  to  think."* 

In  June,  1520,  Luther's  address  "  To  the  Christian  Nobles 
of  the  German  Nation "  came  out.  Although  but  a  few 
pages,  it  was  the  work  of  an  agitator,  and  written  in  Luther's 
most  masterly  style.  Its  main  proposition  is  that  the 
Romish  Curia  must  be  resisted,  and  the  walls  which  it  had 
built  around  Germany  thrown  down,  and  that  it  would 
especially  become  the  German  nobility  to  take  the  lead  in 
the  conflict.  The  address  produced  great  excitement ;  it 
was  useless  now  to  think  of  silencing  the  bold  monk ;  but 
whether  it  was  wise  for  the  Pope  to  have  recourse  to  the 
last  resort,  and  excommunicate  him,  at  the  risk  of  its 
taking  no  effect,  was  the  great  question. 

Eck,  Luther's  literary  opponent,  was  guilty  of  the  indis- 
cretion of  bringing  to  Germany  the  bull  which  the  Pope 
had  reluctantly  issued.  It  was  received  with  open  repug- 
nance, or  at  least  with  indifference ;  some  governments  were 
reluctant  to  proclaim  it,  others  declared  that  in  the  existing 
state  of  things  it  was  not  necessary  to  obey  it :  they  ap- 
pealed to  their  own  judgments  against  the  Church  in  true 
modern  fashion. 

The  Elector  Frederic  the  Wise  openly  disclaimed 
obedience  to  the  bull ;  the  university  of  Wittenberg 
decidedly  took  the  part  of  Luther  and  Carlstadt,  which 
encouraged  Luther  to  venture  on  the  unheard-of  step 
which  he  took  on  the  loth  December,  1520.  He  was  not 
the  man  to  go  to  extremes  for  the  purpose  of  arousing  the 
passions  of  the  populace  ;  he  had  no  wish  to  have  "  Mr. 
Omnes,  who  has  no  sense,"  for  his  master,  but  he  did  not 
shrink  from  any  step  which  might  at  a  critical  moment  lay 
bare  the  weakness  of  the  adversary.  He  resolved  to  take 
the  monstrous  step  of  publicly  burning  the  papal  bull  in 
presence  of  the  professors,  the  students,  and  the  citizens  of 
Wittenberg. 

On  December  loth  the  solemn  procession,  to  which  Luther 
had  invited  the  people  by  a  notice  on  the  church  door,  went 
through  the  Elstergate ;  and  the  people  looked  on  while  the 

*  Ranke. 


28  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

bull,  whose  predecessors  had  dethroned  many  a  proud 
emperor,  and  condemned  many  a  good  reformer  to  the 
flames,  was  consumed  in  the  fire,  amidst  the  blank  amaze- 
ment of  the  Romanists  and  the  rejoicings  of  Luther's 
adherents. 

Luther  had  shown  that,  without  incurring  danger  to  him- 
self, he  could  hold  up  the  Pope's  last  missile  to  derision. 
Rome  had  exhausted  her  weapons ;  admonition,  warning, 
advice,  ban, — not  one  of  them  had  produced  the  least 
effect.  The  greater  the  dismay  at  Rome,  the  greater  had 
been  the  monk's  audacity,  the  more  numerous  his  fol- 
lowers. But  one  resource  was  left, — the  temporal  power. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Last  Days  of  Maximilian  I.,  January,  1519.— Election  of  a  new 
Emperor. — Francis  I.  of  France  and  Charles  V.  of  Spain. — Poli- 
tical Position  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V. — The  Election  in  June. — 
The  Election  Bond,  3rd  July,  1519. 

LAST  DAYS  OF  MAXIMILIAN  I.,  JANUARY,  1519. 

BOTH  parties,  Luther  and  the  Pope,  had  gone  to  ex- 
tremes. It  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  temporal 
power  of  the  empire  to  decide  between  them.  The  Church 
had  to  look  about  her  for  support,  and  she  looked,  in  the 
first  place,  to  the  arm  of  the  Emperor.  The  King  of  Rome 
had  not  only  to  keep  political  order,  he  was  also  the 
guardian  of  the  Church.  It  was  both  his  right  and  duty  to 
uphold  her  authority,  to  administer  her  laws,  to  carry  out 
her  decrees.  It  was  therefore  not  an  unusual  demand,  but, 
in  the  existing  state  of  things,  quite  a  natural  one.  In 
1415  the  Emperor  had  carried  out  the  decree  of  the  Church 
in  a  similar  case.  That  the  imperial  power  had  not  inter- 
fered before  was  only  caused  by  the  interregnum  then 
existing.  From  January  to  June,  1519,  the  throne  was 
unoccupied,  and  after  June  it  was  only  nominally  occupied, 
tor  the  new  Emperor  was  not  yet  present  in  the  empire. 

The  position  of  affairs  had  not  been  so  advantageous 
during  the  latter  part  of  Maximilian's  reign  as  had  been 
hoped  at  the  beginning.  He  was  but  little  beloved,  and 
that  little  because  his  happy  temper  and  engaging  dispo- 
sition prevented  actual  disaffection  and  restrained  open 
ill-will.  But  a  great  change  was  observable.  Many 
things  had  conduced  to  it.  It  was  not  only  that  he  had 
injured  the  domestic  interests  of  this  or  that  dynasty;  there 
were  real  grounds  for  discontent  The  reforms  of  1495,  to 
which  he  had  reluctantly  given  his  consent,  were  not  only 


30  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

not  carried  out,  he  had  even  allowed  those  already  esta- 
blished to  fall  into  disuse. 

The  Aulic  Council,  which  was  to  be  constituted  without 
him,  and  to  oppose  him,  had  always  been  repugnant  to  him  ; 
he  had  also  only  grudgingly  tolerated  the  Imperial  Chamber 
for  a  time;  and  both  had  at  length  been  suffered  to  fall 
into  disuse.  Nothing  remained  but  the  Internal  Treaty  of 
Peace,*  the  administration  of  which  mostly  depended  on 
himself,  and  the  division  -  of  the  empire  into  districts, 
which  served  him  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  princes.  This  was  all  that  remained  of  the  great 
project  of  reform  which  was  looked  for  throughout  the 
empire,  especially  among  the  upper  circles,  at  the  beginning 
of  his  reign  ;  and  some  of  the  states  which  had  promoted 
the  changes  in  1495  now  reproached  him  with  it. 

Another  and  equally  well-founded  reproach  was  that  he 
had  made  the  empire  a  means  of  aggrandising  his  here- 
ditary power  as  a  Hapsburg ;  had  merely  made  a  tool  of 
it  to  carry  out  his  purely  Austrian  plans  in  Italy  and  else- 
where. To  enforce  his  claims  upon  Bohemia  and  Hungary, 
thereby  to  complete  the  Hapsburg  dominions,  to  become 
master  of  Milan  in  Italy  by  the  aid  of  the  ancient  imperial 
rights,  to  form  the  marriage  treaty  with  Spain  ; — these 
were  the  great  aims  of  his  policy,  and  they  had  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  interests  of  the  empire,  as  they 
were  conceived  of  by  the  states  and  the  nation. 

His  position,  therefore,  although  he  knew  how  to  maintain 
it  with  skill  and  prudence,  became  more  and  more  isolated, 
and  he  saw  an  opposition  growing  up  among  the  most  dis- 
tinguished princes  of  the  empire  who  had  formerly  sided 
with  him. 

His  relations  with  the  Church  were  by  no  means  satisfac- 
tory in  the  eyes  of  the  Curia.  He  knew  very  well  that 
the  empire  could  not  exist  unless  the  Church,  in  a  general 
sense,  ruled  Western  Europe ;  but  he  did  not  at  all  approve 
of  the  administration  of  her  policy,  and  by  no  means 
submitted  unconditionally  to  the  power  of  the  Curia. 
The  Popes  had  been  so  often  opposed  to  him  that  he  did 
not  cherish  any  good-will  towards  them  ;  nor  did  he  over- 
look the  frightful  abuses  which  were  eating  into  the  spiritual 

*  Landfriede.  The  decree  of  the  Diet  of  Worms,  1495,  by  which  all 
independent  warfare  amongst  members  of  the  empire  was  forbidden, 
and  the  "law  of  the  fist  "  abolished  under  pain  of  ban,  &c. — TR. 


MAXIMILIAN  I.  31 

and  temporal  life  of  Christendom.  It  was,  indeed,  at  his 
instigation  that  the  accusation  by  the  German  nation  against 
the  Curia  had  been  put  forth ;  and,  with  the  approbation  of 
the  states,  he  had  proclaimed  the  edict  from  Innsbruck 
"  against  the  unspeakable  greed  of  some  ecclesiastics,  who 
know  no  bounds  in  the  acquisition  of  Church  property 
and  benefices."  His  audacious  idea  of  himself  seizing  the 
reins  of  ecclesiastical  power,  as  Charlemagne  and  Henry  III. 
had  done,  indicates  his  relations  with  Rome. 

When  the  contest  at  Wittenberg  began,  he  at  first  looked 
on  with  malicious  pleasure.  He  had  just  then  fallen  out 
with  Rome  on  political  grounds,  and  it  was  a  satisfaction  to 
him  that  she  should  have  the  millstone  of  a  monastic  con- 
troversy hung  about  her  neck.  "  Let  the  Wittenberg  monk," 
he  said  to  Frederic  the  Wise,  "  be  taken  good  care  of;  we 
may  want  him  some  day." 

But  during  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  all  this  was 
changed ;  his  domestic  policy  induced  him  to  seek  an 
understanding  with  Rome.  Although  he  did  not  anticipate 
his  approaching  death,  he  was  anxious  to  secure  to  his 
family  the  succession  to  the  empire.  His  son  Philip  had 
met  with  an  early  and  tragic  death,  but  he  had  left  a  son 
(Charles  V.)  who  would  certainly  inherit  Spain,  and  for 
whom  Maximilian  wished  to  secure  the  German  crown.  If 
he  could  succeed,  the  imperial  glory  and  greatness  would 
be  restored  in  all  its  mediaeval  splendour. 

The  foreign  powers,  especially  France,  were  against  it, 
and  in  his  isolation  in  Germany  the  Emperor  had  no  other 
ally  but  Rome  to  aid  him  in  his  projects.  Things  were  in 
this  position  when  Cajetan  was  sent  to  the  Diet  at  Augsburg. 
He  brought  large  demands  for  men  and  money  against  the 
Turks,  which  the  Emperor  was  willing  to  grant  if  the 
Church  would  support  him.  But  the  scheme  entirely  mis- 
carried. It  was  not  only  that  public  opinion,  led  by  Ulrich 
von  Hutten,  declared  loudly  against  the  Papal  Legate ;  the 
Diet  refused  his  demands,  and  refused  them  on  the  ground 
that  the  just  grievances  of  the  Germans  must  first  be 
redressed.  The  annats,*  the  pall-money,  interference  with 
the  rights  of  patronage,  the  numberless  infringements  of  the 
concordat,  all  these  were  brought  up  afresh,  and  some  of  the 

*  A  year's  income  of  a  spiritual  living  originally  given  to  the  Pope 
on  the  death  of  a  bishop  or  abbot,  and  paid  by  his  successor. — TR. 


32  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

spiritual  princes  brought  in  petitions  against  special  griev- 
ances. Thus  the  Bishop  of  Liege  proved  by  a  long  statis- 
tical paper  that  the  German  benefices  became  a  prey  to 
Roman  courtesans.  If  the  spiritual  princes  spoke  in  this 
way,  it  may  be  imagined  how  the  Legate's  propositions  were 
regarded  by  the  temporal  rulers. 

Among  the  circumstances  which  occasioned  this  failure, 
the  passiveness  of  the  imperial  government  respecting  the 
affair  of  Luther  was  a  principal  one.  When  the  controversy 
began,  the  government  was  at  variance  with  Rome,  and 
looked  on  with  satisfaction  ;  but  when  it  wished  for  recon- 
ciliation with  Rome,  and  Rome  wanted  to  employ  it  against 
Luther,  both  schemes  were  frustrated  at  the  Diet.  This 
plan,  therefore,  did  not  aid  the  Emperor  in  securing  the 
succession  for  his  house.  Shortly  after  this,  in  January, 
1519,  the  Emperor  Maximilian  died  quite  suddenly.  He 
was  no  longer  young,  but  was  still  so  vigorous  that  his  death 
was  quite  unexpected. 

ELECTION  OF  A  NEW  EMPEROR. — FRANCIS  T.  OF  FRANCE 
AND  CHARLES  V.  OF  SPAIN. 

All  these  circumstances  greatly  helped  forward  the 
Reformation.  The  imperial  power  was  for  months  in 
abeyance,  the  papal  power  at  least  lessened ;  the  regency 
which  now  existed  did  not  in  any  way  alter  the  aspect  of 
affairs.  The  Count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  witlv  whose 
house  the  Emperor  had  lived  in  bitter  discord,  was  regent 
in  the  south ;  the  Elector  Frederic  the  Wise,  in  the  north 
and  east.  It  was  plain  that  no  steps  would  now  be  taken 
against  Luther.  The  Elector  Palatine  was  not  in  the  least 
disposed  to  burden  himself  with  this  troublesome  business ; 
the  Elector  Frederic  was  the  avowed  though  prudent  friend 
and  protector  of  the  monk  of  Wittenberg. 

The  election  of  a  new  emperor  was  a  grave  question. 
Had  the  old  Elector  Frederic,  who  had  vigorously  aided 
the  reforms  in  1495,  an^  at  first  maintained  a  close  friend- 
ship with  the  Emperor,  had  any  ambition  to  be  emperor, 
he  would  probably  have  been  chosen  unanimously.  But 
he  was  too  old,  too  cool-headed  and  sober,  to  put  this 
thorny  crown  into  the  scale  against  his  secure  position. 
After  he  had  declined,  there  was  not  one  among  the 
German  princes  who  would  have  had  any  chance  of  being 


FRANCIS    I.  33 

elected,  nor  was  there  one  among  the  electors  who  coveted 
so  burdensome  an  honour.  Outside  this  circle  candidates 
were  not  wanting.  Two  foreigners,  Francis  I.  and  Charles 
V.,  put  forth  their  rival  claims. 

We  often  confound  the  Empire  with  the  Kingdom  of 
Germany,  because  the  latter  had  for  centuries  grown  up 
together  with  the  former.  But  the  imperial  crown  was  a 
universal  dignity,  and  therefore,  the  actual  state  of  things 
notwithstanding,  it  was  quite  possible  that  it  might  one  day 
devolve  upon  other  than  a  German  house.  It  was  on  this 
ground  that  France  now  strove  to  attain  it.  France  had 
become  a  more  thoroughly  compact  and  united  state  than 
any  of  its  neighbours,  and  therefore  Francis  L,  from  the 
security  of  his  domestic  position,  was  the  most  powerful 
monarch  in  Europe.  He  had  still  various  projects  on  hand. 
He  already  enjoyed  a  European  reputation ;  he  had  not 
long  before  begun  his  reign  with  the  successful  Italian 
campaign ;  he  had  subdued  the  hitherto  unvanquished 
Swiss  at  Marignano,  and  garrisoned  the  coveted  city  of 
Milan.  These  successes  had  attracted  a  vast  deal  of  atten- 
tion ;  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  great  general,  though  he 
was  in  tact,  as  afterwards  appeared,  only  a  brave  cavalier, 
ever  ready  to  risk  his  own  life,  but  incapable  of  directing 
a  campaign  or  even  a  battle. 

Charles  of  Spain  had  as  yet  nothing  of  the  kind  to  show. 
He  seemed  to  be  indebted  for  the  lustre  of  his  name  to  his 
descent  from  so  many  great  princes.  He  was  not  yet  even 
King  oi  Spain.  Maximilian's  son,  the  handsome  but  disso- 
lute Philip,  had  married  Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  and  Spain  and  the  New  World  fell  to  her  lot. 
Joanna  seems  to  have  been  early  subject  to  melancholy. 
She  is  said  to  have  given  her  husband  a  poisoned  love- 
potion,  from  jealousy.  When  Philip  soon  afterwards  died 
with  all  the  symptoms  of  poisoning,  her  melancholy  passed 
into  madness,  from  which  she  never  recovered. 

This  Spanish  melancholy  had  momentous  results  for  the 
house  of  Hapsburg,  for  it  was  transmitted  through  this 
ancestress,  and  has  never  since  disappeared.  The  earlier 
Hapsburgs  had  nothing  of  it ;  down  to  Maximilian  they 
were  of  an  energetic,  enterprising  temperament,  more  likely 
to  incur  blame  for  daring  rashness  than  for  any  tendency  to 
passive  melancholy. 

Charles  was  the  child   of   this  unhappy   marriage.     He 

D 


34  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

was  nominally  regent  while  his  mother  was  still  queen. 
From  what  was  known  of  his  character  it  was  not  supposed 
that  he  would  be  likely  to  vanquish  Francis  I.  Both  the 
fame  and  the  powers  of  Francis  were  in  their  prime  ;  he  was 
a  brilliant,  if  not  a  weighty  personage  ;  he  was  possessed  of 
showy,  thoroughly  French  talents  ;  he  was  eloquent,  amiable, 
gallant,  a  type  of  the  national  character,  including  both  its 
good  and  bad  features.  Francis  was  overrated,  Charles 
underrated.  Charles  could  not  be  compared  with  so  bril- 
liant an  individual ;  he  was  a  delicate  youth  of  scarcely 
nineteen,  had  been  reared  with  difficulty,  and  had  inherited 
his  mother's  gloomy,  phlegmatic  temperament ;  in  spite  of 
his  youth,  he  seemed  to  have  scarcely  one  youthful  trait 
in  his  character;  he  had  done  nothing  for  immortality;  in 
his  heavy  Spanish  manners  there  was  not  a  spark  of  French 
savoir-vivre ;  he  had  no  valiant  deeds,  and  but  few  gallant 
adventures  to  boast  of;  in  short,  in  every  respect  he  was 
thrown  into  the  shade  by  Francis. 

This  insignificance  was  partly  caused  by  the  melancholy 
circumstances  of  his  youth,  and  by  the  fact  that  he  was 
always  surrounded  by  powerful  men  who  governed  in  his 
stead.  He  afterwards  acquired  all  that  was  now  wanting 
to  him,  and  proved  himself  quite  equal  to  great  political 
projects ;  indeed,  it  became  evident  that  he  possessed  many 
great  political  virtues,  untiring  industry,  steady  perseverance 
and  patience  in  a  high  degree,  that  he  was  the  man  to 
devote  his  life  to  a  great  enterprise ;  and  the  more  evident 
this  became,  the  more  did  he  acquire  supremacy  over 
Francis.  But  at  the  time  when  nothing  of  all  this  had 
been  proved,  the  decision,  of  course,  rested  on  other 
grounds. 

In  expenditure  and  energetic  measures  to  insure  election 
both  parties  were  equal.  It  cannot  be  reckoned  to  a  florin 
how  much  each  spent,  but  it  is  certain  that  neither  failed 
in  this  respect.  Heavy  bags  of  gold  came  from  France,  and 
we  now  know  that  the  same  came  from  Austria.  The  well- 
known  leaning  of  Francis  towards  absolutism  was  against 
him.  It  was  known  how  he  treated  parliaments  in  France, 
how  he  commanded  the  levy  of  illegal  taxes  under  pain  of 
execution :  this  did  not  accord  with  "  ancient  German 
liberty."  It  was  also  taken  into  account  that  Francis  was 
a  foreigner,  while  Charles  was  at  least  half  a  German :  he 
was  descended  from  a  German  father  and  German  ancestors. 


THE  ELECTION   BOND.  35 

Since  Maximilian's  death,  his  good  qualities  had  been  more 
thought  of;  his  people  would  not  insult  his  house  by 
choosing  his  natural  enemy  as  emperor.  It  was  con- 
sidered, further,  that  the  kingdom  and  the  empire  had  been 
united  for  centuries ;  that  by  reason  of  this  union  Germany 
took  a  foremost  place  among  the  nations,  which  she  would 
no  longer  hold  if  the  imperial  crown  were  worn  by  a 
foreigner.  It  was  by  a  true  instinct  that  the  nation  shrank 
from  the  ambitious  projects  of  the  French  king. 

By  degrees,  however,  the  West  German  courts  were 
reproached  with  favouring  the  French  too  much,  when 
Frederic  the  Wise  turned  the  scale  ;  he  summed  up  all 
the  points  in  Charles's  favour,  his  descent,  his  ties  with 
the  empire,  his  natural  enmity  to  France,  and  he  openly 
declared  that  he  should  vote  for  him. 

The  French  party  vanished,  no  one  knew  how.  Every 
one  was  ashamed  to  belong  to  it,  and  Charles  was  unani- 
mously elected,  although  subject  to  stipulations  which 
showed  that  the  people  desired  not  to  let  the  opportunity 
slip  of  obtaining  from  the  new  emperor  all  that  had  been 
withheld  by  the  old  one.  They  made  an  election  contract, 
or,  as  it  is  called  in  the  Northern  States,  an  election 
bond. 

POLITICAL  POSITION  OF  CHARLES  V.   AT  THE  BEGINNING 
OF  HIS  REIGN. 

Charles  was  elected  on  June  28th,  1519,  and  on  July 
3rd  the  election  contract  was  settled,  which  strictly  de- 
fined the  limits  of  his  authority.  Hereafter  the  Emperor 
was  not  to  employ  any  foreign  troops  in  the  imperial  wars 
without  the  consent  of  the  empire ;  not  to  convoke  any  Diet 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  empire  ;  he  was  to  give  the 
offices  of  the  court  and  empire  to  natives  of  Germany 
only ;  no  language  was  to  be  employed  in  State  transactions 
but  German  or  Latin ;  the  states  of  the  empire  were  not  to 
be  subject  to  any  jurisdiction  beyond  the  bounds  of  the 
empire.  The  Emperor  was  to  be  the  protector  of  the  Church, 
but  was  to  abolish  everything  which  the  Court  of  Rome  had 
introduced  contrary  to  the  concordat  with  Germany ;  he 
was  to  confirm  the  sovereign  rights  of  the  princes,  and  to 
establish  an  Imperial  Chamber.  He  was  not  to  alienate  any 
imperial  possess;ons,  not  to  issue  any  sentence  of  outlawry 


36  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

without  a  trial,  to  maintain  customs,  duties,  and  privileges, 
and  to  abolish  the  covenants  between  the  knights  and  their 
vassals. 

There  are  three  points  in  this  bond  which  are  of  special 
interest.  The  German  empire  endeavours  to  protect  its 
individuality  against  the  foreigner,  the  Spaniard,  which 
afterwards  proved  to  be  of  great  importance.  Then  the 
Imperial  Chamber,  formed  of  the  electors,  which  Maxi- 
milian so  obstinately  opposed,  was  really  established,  and 
at  a  most  critical  time  ruled  in  the  Emperor's  stead.  Finally, 
by  the  clause  relating  to  the  ancient  concordats  between  the 
German  empire  and  the  Pope,  the  empire  assumed  a  posi- 
tion towards  him  which  was  quite  in  accordance  with  the 
transactions  of  the  last  Diet,  but  which,  in  the  matter  of  the 
existing  ecclesiastical  controversy,  showed  more  favour  to 
Luther  than  to  his  opponents. 

Thus  the  imperial  throne  was  filled  just  at  the  time 
when  Luther  was  separating  himself  from  the  Church. 
No  one  yet  knew  the  intentions  or  tendencies  of  the  new 
Emperor ;  he  was  like  a  blank  sheet  of  paper  upon  which 
every  man  inscribed  his  hopes  and  wishes.  Some  expected 
from  him  the  rescue  of  the  Roman  power  from  pressing 
danger;  others,  like  Hutten  and  Luther,  the  salvation  of 
the  nation  and  the  Reformation.  Charles  took  a  course  of 
his  own,  and  probably  disappointed  them  all. 

A  most  important  accession  of  power  had  all  at  once 
accrued  to  the  empire.  Charles  was  not  an  emperor  with- 
out territory,  and,  as  so  many  had  been  before  him,  unable 
from  lack  of  means  to  confer  dignity  on  the  crown ;  he 
brought  more  to  the  throne  than  any  emperor  had  ever 
done  before.  He  was  the  hereditary  Prince  of  Hapsburg, 
possessed  the  German- Austrian  territories,  had  established 
his  claims  upon  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  which  formed  a 
territory  in  the  east  which  even  then  denned  the  outlines  of 
the  present  Austrian  empire.  Besides  this,  he  was  heir  to 
Burgundy,  which  his  grandmother  brought  to  the  Emperor 
Maximilian.  It  was  hard  to  keep,  indeed,  but  it  was  a  jewel  of 
a  possession,  rich  in  all  that  nature  and  industry  can  offer, 
covered  with  the  most  flourishing  cities  in  the  world,  now 
that  the  glory  of  the  Italian  cities  was  departed.  Besides 
this,  there  was  the  crown  of  Spain  with  its  Italian  append- 
ages—Naples, Sicily,  the  islands  of  Majorca  and  Minorca, 
and  the  newly  acquired  and  daily  increasing  possessions  in 


POSITION  OF  CHARLES.  37 

the  New  World.     No  one  had  ever  attained  to  such  power 
before,  and  Charles  was  dowered  with  it  while  yet  in  his  cradle. 

The  mediaeval  empire  once  more  blazed  up  in  splendour ; 
never  before  had  it  had  possessions  of  such  magnitude  at 
its  disposal;  never  had  a  man  ruled  over  it  who  was  so  cool 
and  sober  a  calculator,  so  little  of  an  enthusiast  as  Charles  V. 
In  the  last  moments  before  its  dissolution,  medievalism 
once  more  put  forth  all  its  strength  to  oppose  the  spirit  of 
the  coming  times ;  yet  this  colossal  power,  wielded  by  such 
a  personage,  was  not  able  to  turn  the  world  aside  from  the 
course  it  was  taking. 

Both  parties  viewed  the  election  of  Charles  with  extra- 
vagant hopes.  Luther  and  Hutten,  as  well  as  the  Curia, 
indulged  in  great  expectations  for  their  cause,  and  both 
parties  forgot  Charles's  standing  in  relation  to  the  empire. 
For  Charles  the  imperial  throne  was  only  the  crowning 
honour  of  a  position  which  doubtless  received  an  accession 
of  glory  from  it,  and  yet  was  without  it  of  great  importance. 
His  position  in  the  empire,  in  spite  of  its  splendour,  was 
uncertain ;  its  real  significance  was  dependent  on  the  fluc- 
tuations of  party  feeling  among  the  princes  and  the  people  ; 
his  crowns,  his  inherited  dominions,  were  his  permanent 
possessions,  without  which  the  imperial  crown  was  but  an 
empty  name.  In  one  scale  lay  his  imperial  dignity,  in 
the  other  his  inheritance  :  should  it  become  necessary  to 
balance  them,  it  could  not  be  but  that  the  latter  would 
outweigh  the  former.  It  was  in  the  nature  of  this  empire, 
composed  of  various  elements,  that  it  must  comprise  a  • 
variety  of  political  sentiments.  It  could  not  be  said  that 
these  possessions  in  Italy,  Germany,  Spain,  the  Nether- 
lands, in  the  Mediterranean  and  beyond  the  sea,  had  any 
natural  connection.  A  government  based  on  any  homo- 
geneous national  policy  was  impossible.  In  Spain  Charles 
was  called  a  German,  in  Germany  a  Spaniard,  and  both 
were  right  and  both  wrong ;  he  was  not  intimately  and 
nationally  connected  with  any  one  of  his  dominions ;  he 
could  not  from  policy  devote  himself  to  any  one  :  the  pre- 
scribed construction  of  the  empire  forbade  it.  The  German 
princes,  therefore,  sought  to  secure  themselves  against 
Spanish  influence,  and  at  a  later  period  complained  of 
Spanish  tyranny ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Spaniards  tried 
to  defend  themselves  from  what  they  called  German  influ- 
ence and  tyranny.  That  kindly  relation  of  personal  good- 


38  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

will  which  can  only  exist  between  a  native  prince  and 
subjects  who  are  also  his  countrymen  was  as  impossible  for 
Charles  in  Spain  and  Italy  as  it  was  in  Germany.  It  existed, 
to  a  certain  extent,  between  him  and  the  Netherlands.  The 
circumstance  of  his  having  been  born  at  Ghent  seems  to 
have  inspired  him  with  some  affection  for  it,  but  he  was  a 
foreigner  in  Spain,  and  in  Germany  he  understood  neither 
the  language  nor  the  spirit  of  the  nation. 

All  this  was  the  result  of  circumstances  which  Charles 
could  not  alter.  The  fulfilment  of  Hutten's  hopes,  especi- 
ally that  he  would  inaugurate  his  acceptance  of  the  imperial 
crown  by  restoring  the  kingdom  of  Germany,  that  at  the 
head  of  the  nation  he  would  institute  reform,  and  thus  win 
back  for  Germany  her  lost  political,  national,  and  ecclesias- 
tical rank,  was  rendered  impossible  by  the  conditions  of 
his  power.  The  moment  was  certainly  a  critical  one,  and 
it  was  by  a  rare  combination  of  events  that  this  nation, 
once  the  most  powerful  in  Europe,  distracted  by  a  great 
religious  movement,  had  re-entered  into  the  old  struggle 
with  Rome  in  a  way  which  might  enable  their  leader,  in 
case  he  rightly  apprehended  the  tendencies  of  the  people, 
with  their  aid  to  create  a  consolidated  power  such  as 
had  never  existed  in  Germany  before.  It  was  this  that 
occasioned  Napoleon  I.  to  say  that  Charles  V.  was  a  fool 
not  to  take  advantage  of  such  a  moment  to  depose  the 
ruling  princes,  upset  the  papal  power,  make  Germany  a 
united  state,  and  thereby  the  greatest  power  in  the  world. 

Napoleon  would  have  done  it,  but  Charles  V.  was  not 
the  man  ;  the  idea  never  entered  his  head,  even  had  his 
position  out  of  Germany  allowed  him  to  entertain  it. 

He  had  no  taste  for  such  hazardous  games  which  lead 
either  to  immortality  or  to  sudden  destruction.  His  strength 
lay  in  patient  perseverance,  in  the  energy  with  which  he 
sought  gradually  to  disentangle  perplexing  circumstances ; 
but  he  had  nothing  of  the  adventurous  spirit  which  stakes 
everything  on  one  throw. 

Charles  V.  had  grown  up  in  Spain,  where  Catholicism 
had  preserved  its  Hie  in  the  greatest  freshness  and  vigour ; 
for  up  to  recent  times  it  had  had  to  maintain  its  existence 
against  Islamism,  and  by  the  perpetual  crusade  against  the 
infidel  the  Church  had  been  preserved  from  sinking  into 
that  indolence  into  which  she  had  sunk  elsewhere.  A 
Spanish  prince  who  had  grown  up  in  such  an  atmosphere 


CHARLES  V.  39 

would  bring  with  him  decidedly  Catholic  sentiments ;  he 
might  not,  perhaps,  be  confirmed  in  a  rigid  faith,  but  such 
general  religious  impressions  as  he  had  would  unconsciously 
take  this  stamp.  This  was  the  case  with  Charles  V. ;  but 
other  considerations  came  into  play.  He  regarded  the  im- 
perial crown  as  an  important  lever  of  his  power ;  and,  in  the 
true  mediaeval  spirit,  he  considered  it  to  be  closely  con- 
nected with  the  unity  of  the  Church,  which  he  must  under 
all  circumstances  uphold,  however  she  might  be  constituted 
in  other  respects. 

From  this  stand-point  he  might  easily  come  into  collision 
with  both  the  Pope  and  the  Protestants.  He  disgusted  the 
latter  when  he  let  them  feel  his  power  as  Mediseval 
Emperor  for  rebelling  against  the  unity  of  the  Church  ;  he 
would  quarrel  with  Rome  whenever  her  secular  interests 
interfered  with  his  political  schemes. 

In  spite  of  his  pronounced  Roman  Catholic  views,  he  was 
by  no  means  unconditionally  submissive  to  the  policy  of  the 
Church.  In  the  course  of  the  last  decades  Rome  had  more 
than  ever  become  a  temporal  power ;  Julius  II.  and  Leo  X. 
were  far  more  of  temporal  than  spiritual  rulers.  Rome  now 
paid  dearly  for  having  been  actuated  in  her  policy  solely  by 
worldly  motives,  like  any  other  state  of  Italy ;  for,  lamentable 
as  this  might  be,  it  was  the  fact.  It  might  easily  happen 
that  Charles  V.,  once  so  good  a  son  of  the  Church,  might, 
from  political  reasons,  become  unfriendly  to  Rome.  Indeed, 
such  a  case  had  just  occurred,  for  Rome  had  exerted  herself 
against  Charles's  election,  because  at  that  time  very  powerful 
princes  were  dreaded  in  Italy  and  in  the  rest  of  Europe. 

They  had  seen  through  this  at  the  court  of  Madrid,  and 
were  at  no  loss  for  a  counter-stroke.  On  May  i2th, 
1520,  Manuel,  the  Emperor's  commissioner,  wrote  to  him  : 
"  Your  Majesty  must  go  to  Germany  and  show  some  favour 
to  a  certain  Martin  Luther,  who  is  to  be  found  at  the 
court  of  Saxony,  and  is  a  cause  of  some  anxiety  to  the 
court  of  Rome  from  the  things  which  he  preaches." 

Charles's  mode  of  looking  at  things  was  exclusively 
political,  and  the  aim  of  his  education  had  been  to  make 
it  so.  He  had  had  no  real  youth,  and  was  wanting  in  the 
elasticity  and  spirits  which  are  characteristic  of  that  period 
of  life.  The  pupil  of  the  cold  Burgundian-Spanish  school 
was  destitute  of  every  youthful  trait ;  but  in  diplomacy, 
which  was  his  calling,  he  surpassed  many  of  the  maturest 


40  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

princes  of  Europe.  In  his  circle  religious  matters  were 
regarded  with  great  indifference.  People  permitted  them- 
selves to  say  very  bad  things  about  the  Church  and  the 
Papacy,  while  they  earnestly  desired  that  the  people  should 
retain  their  very  useful  superstitions,  but  did  not  imagine 
it  possible  that  men's  minds  could  ever  be  deeply  affected 
by  such  things  ;  in  fact,  they  were  as  completely  strangers  to 
the  real  nature  of  religion  as  were  the  proud  and  worldly 
dignitaries  of  the  Church.  It  was  in  this  that  the  funda- 
mental error  of  Charles's  policy  lay  with  regard  to  the  great 
question  of  the  age.  He  made  his  calculations  in  a  won- 
derful manner ;  in  the  long  labour  of  a  lifetime  he  cast  up 
everything  figure  by  figure ;  but  one  thing  he  could  not  dis- 
cover, the  logarithm  for  the  religious  commotions  of  his  time. 
He  could  not  comprehend  them ;  he  thought  a  monk  might 
be  set  up  like  a  puppet,  and  then  be  suffered  to  fall  down 
again ;  he  once  even  imagined  that  the  matter  could  be 
settled  with  a  few  thousand  dollars.  This  narrowness  of 
view,  combined  with  his  otherwise  magnificent  diplomatic 
virtuosoship,  is  exceedingly  remarkable,  and  it  occasioned 
his  fall.  It  was  this  that  occasioned  the  greatest  power 
which  the  world  had  seen  to  suffer  shipwreck  in  the  tumults 
of  the  age  stirred  up  by  a  single  monk.  It  was  with  the 
feeling  of  his  powerlessness  against  this  unknown  something 
that  Charles  abdicated  and  went  into  a  monastery. 

A  man  may  be  an  eminent  personage  and  have  powerful 
means  at  his  disposal,  but  if  he  does  not  comprehend  the 
ideas  of  his  time,  if  he  does  not  with  his  whole  soul  take 
one  side  or  the  other,  he  will  be  an  alien  in  a  world  where 
a  man  must  be  either  hammer  or  anvil,  and  he  will  not 
escape  the  fate  of  Charles  V.  The  well-known  story  of 
the  two  clocks  well  illustrates  his  position ;  at  all  events, 
he  may  have  so  spoken  and  acted,  for  it  was  in  accordance 
with  his  character. 

The  character  and  policy  of  Charles  V.  cannot  be  defined 
with  a  word.  A  multitude  of  contradictory  ideas  and 
qualities  were  jumbled  together  in  his  mind.  His  position 
as  Prince  of  Burgundy,  hereditary  Prince  of  Hapsburg,  as 
King  of  Spain,  and  Emperor  of  Germany,  gave  him  a 
number  of  complicated  problems  to  solve,  and  they  were 
decided  in  favour  of  one  interest  or  another,  according  to 
the  number  of  the  factors.  He  was  never  influenced  by  any 
but  external  motives  in  his  decisions,  and  this  was  his  ruin. 


CHARLES   V.  41 

It  was  in  the  nature  of  things  that  it  should  be  so. 
None  of  those  who  approached  him  with  great  hopes 
appreciated  the  necessities  imposed  upon  him  ;  but  for  us 
this  complication  of  circumstances  had  tragic  results.  An 
emperor  had  appeared  once  more  with  a  dazzling  position 
in  Europe,  but  his  heart  was  a  stranger  to  the  thoughts 
that  were  agitating  Germany ;  he  did  not  even  understand 
the  language  of  the  nation  whose  patriots  were  looking 
to  him  for  the  prosperity  of  their  country ;  and  thus  the 
empire  again  became  the  sport  of  European  complications, 
the  fate  of  the  nation  was  again  enchained  to  aims  and 
enterprises  which  had  nothing  to  do  with  her  future. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Diet  of  Worms,  Spring  of  1521. — Agreement  between  the 
Emperor  and  the  Pope. — Negotiations  about  Luther. — The  Man- 
date of  8th — 26th  May,  1521. — Growth  of  the  Regal  Power  in 
France  under  Francis  I.,  1515-47. — His  Domestic  and  Foreign 
Policy.— The  First  War,  1521-26. 

THE  DIET  OF  WORMS,  APRIL  AND  MAY,  1521. — AGREE- 
MENT BETWEEN  THE  POPE  AND  THE  EMPEROR. — NE- 
GOTIATIONS ABOUT  LUTHER. — THE  MANDATE  OF  MAY. 

ROME  had  exhausted  her  weapons  against  Luther ;  the 
papal  ban  had  fallen  powerless  to  the  ground ;  unless 
the  Emperor  interfered,  the  cause  of  the  Curia  was  lost. 

The  young  Emperor  now  came  to  Germany  for  the  first 
time  to  arrange  the  details  of  the  election  contract  at  the 
Diet,  and  at  the  same  time  to  speak  the  decisive  word 
on  the  question  of  Church  reform.  This  latter  task  was 
peculiarly  difficult.  On  the  one  hand,  the  unity  of  the 
Catholic  Church  must  be  maintained,  yet  the  abuses  within 
her,  of  which  even  his  own  confessor  Glapion  thought 
seriously,  must  be  remedied.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
clamorous  demands  of  the  Germans  must  be  satisfied. 
They  had  been  asking  for  reform  for  centuries,  and  it 
could  scarcely  be  any  longer  denied ;  yet  it  must  be  so 
carried  out  that,  if  possible,  the  whole  nation  should  share 
in  the  benefit  of  it :  in  short,  Charles  was  to  carry  out 
reform  in  such  a  manner  that  neither  the  unity  of  the 
Church  nor  that  of  the  nation  should  suffer.  Everything 
else  that  devolved  upon  him  at  the  Diet  was  thrown  com- 
pletely into  the  shade  by  this  task. 

But  he  was  met  at  the  outset  by  the  unfortunate  fact, 
that  he  had  no  clear  comprehension  of  the  situation,  nor  of 
the  importance  of  the  commotion  in  Germany;  and  a  new 


THE  DIET  OF  WORMS.  43 

combination  of  his  worldly  plans  and  the  Romish  policy 
had  just  arisen,  which  might  determine  his  course  on  the 
German  question.  A  war  with  France  was  threatened, 
about  the  old  question  of  claims  to  Northern  Italy:  in  such 
a  war  it  would  be  of  the  greatest  moment  for  the  Emperor 
to  have  the  Pope,  the  most  distinguished  ruler  of  Italy,  on 
his  side.  The  Church  party  saw  plainly  that  nothing  could 
be  accomplished  in  Germany  without  the  Emperor,  and  so 
they  met  each  other  half-way. 

They  came  to  a  preliminary  agreement  which  amounted 
to  this :  the  Pope  is  to  support  the  Emperor  in  Italy 
against  France,  and  in  return  the  Emperor  is  to  help  to 
put  an  end  to  heresy  in  Germany.* 

This  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  duty  or  the  position 
of  the  German  Emperor ;  it  was  far,  indeed,  from  acknow- 
ledging the  nation's  right  to  Church  reform,  while  saving 
it  from  a  religious  schism.  It  was  a  case,  at  this  first 
momentous  crisis,  in  which  the  domestic  interests  of  the 
Hapsburg-Spanish  house  were  allowed  to  triumph  over  the 
most  sacred  interests  of  the  nation.  It  was  a  course  which 
bitterly  revenged  itself  on  Charles.  What  would  he  not 
have  given,  nine  years  later,  could  he  but  have  bought  this 
moment  back !  Both  parties  were  then  looking  to  him  ; 
both  were  ready  to  abide  by  his  decision,  if  it  were  practi- 
cable and  reasonable.  Had  he  taken  the  right  course, 
he  would  have  had  far  more  power  at  his  disposal  than 
he  could  ever  acquire  by  the  most  dexterous  intrigues 
with  Rome.  The  evil  consequences  of  the  error  of  1521 
cannot  be  over-estimated. 

Charles  had  in  the  main  arrived  at  a  decision  before 
the  Diet  assembled.  The  Diet,  therefore,  was  a  court  whose 
sentence  was  ready  before  the  parties  had  been  heard  ;  the 
Emperor  had  made  up  his  mind  that,  to  please  the  Pope, 
he  must  put  an  end  to  heresy. 

Charles  did  not  perceive  that  this  was  impossible,  even 
at  the  cost  of  a  civil  war,  for  his  thoughts  were  beyond 
the  Alps ;  he  had  turned  his  back  upon  the  German  business 
belore  he  had  publicly  taken  it  in  hand.  The  Edict  of 
Worms  was,  therefore,  not  only  an  injustice,  because  it 
pronounced  sentence  upon  a  question  which  had  never 
been  honestly  investigated ;  it  was  also  an  error,  for  by  it 

*  There  was  no  formal  agreement  till  May  8th,  1521.     See  Ranke. 


44  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

a  most  valuable  opportunity  was  lost,  and  the  imperial 
authority  was  as  much  weakened  by  it  as  the  papal  authority 
had  been  by  a  bull  that  nobody  heeded. 

From  the  immense  popular  interest  excited  by  the  citation 
of  the  Wittenberg  monk,  it  was  plain  that  the  nation  cared 
for  nothing  so  much  as  for  this  question.  Luther  felt  this, 
and  determined  to  go  to  Worms  before  he  knew  whether 
safe-conduct  would  be  granted  him  or  not.  He  set  aside 
every  suggestion  of  recantation,  and  was  ready  joyfully  to 
give  his  life  for  his  convictions.  He  wrote  to  Spalatin, 
who  was  negotiating  with  him  on  behalf  of  the  Emperor 
and  the  Elector : — "  If  it  should  ever  be  that  I  should  be 
delivered  up,  not  only  to  the  high  priests,  but  also  to  the 
heathen,  the  Lord's  will  be  done.  I  hereby  give  you  my 
advice  and  opinion :  you  may  expect  everything  from  me, 
only  not  that  I  shall  flee  or  recant ;  I  shall  not  flee,  far 
less  recant,  so  surely  as  my  Lord  Jesus  strengthens  me,  for 
I  can  do  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  without  danger  to 
godliness  and  the  salvation  of  many."  And  in  another  letter 
to  the  same  he  says : — "  If  his  Majesty  calls  me  to  account 
so  that  I  am  ruined,  and  am  looked  upon  on  account  of  my 
answer  as  an  enemy  to  the  empire,  still  I  am  ready  to 
come.  For  I  have  no  intention  of  fleeing,  nor  of  leaving 
the  Word  in  danger,  but  I  mean  to  confess  it  unto  death 
so  far  as  Christ's  grace  sustains  me  !  But  I  am  certain 
that  the  bloodhounds  will  not  rest  till  they  have  put  me  to 
death." 

Luther  felt  to  the  full  the  responsibility  of  the  steps  he 
had  taken ;  he  thought  it  doubtful  whether  the  Emperor's 
safe-conduct  would  protect  him ;  he  knew  the  fate  of  Huss 
well ;  but  he  knew  also  that  to  go  back  would  be  to  con- 
demn himself  and  ruin  the  object  he  had  in  view,  and  he 
therefore  acted  with  all  that  fearless  courage  with  which  his 
good  conscience  and  trust  in  God  inspired  him.  The  juxta- 
position of  affairs  was  this  :  on  the  one  hand,  political 
calculation,  which  thought  it  had  taken  everything  into 
account,  and  yet  failed ;  on  the  other,  manly  faithfulness 
to  conviction,  which  did  not  weigh  or  calculate,  but  acted 
with  the  feeling  that  the  future  depended  upon  it.  The 
Edict  of  Worms  was  torn  in  pieces  a  few  days  after  it  was 
issued ;  the  simple  man  in  a  cowl,  who  went  to  Worms  with 
the  feeling  that  he  would  rather  die  than  flee,  belonged 
henceforth  to  the  world's  history. 


THE  DIET   OF  WORMS.  45 

The  court  was  conducted  with  great  pomp,  but  all  its 
solemn  apparatus  was  an  empty  pageant ;  for,  however  the 
accused  might  defend  himself,  the  sentence  had  been  already 
arranged  with  Rome. 

On  the  first  day,  the  xyth  of  April,  the  style  of  his  defence 
was  embarrassed.  The  sight  of  this  great  assemblage 
of  dignitaries  of  the  empire  and  Church  abashed  the 
monk,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  still  found  it  difficult  to  sur- 
mount his  timidity  in  the  pulpit.  He  spoke  low,  often 
scarcely  intelligibly ;  and  it  was  not  till  near  the  close  of 
the  second  hearing  that  he  regained  facility  of  utterance 
and  the  full  power  of  his  voice.  There  was  something 
rustic  and  unaffected  in  his  mode  of  speaking;  he  had 
nothing  of  the  diplomatic  polish  which  the  strangers  among 
the  audience  might  have  expected,  but  his  bearing  was 
thoroughly  firm  and  unyielding.  He  maintained  that  no- 
thing but  the  plain  words  of  Holy  Scripture,  no  threat 
nor  power  should  induce  him  to  recant,  and  exclaimed, 
"  Here  I  stand ;  I  can  do  no  otherwise ;  God  help  me  ! 
Amen." 

The  Spaniards  present  could  not  comprehend  how  so 
insignificant  an  individual,  who  displayed  so  little  talent 
or  learning,  should  have  caused  such  a  scandal  in  Germany, 
and  Charles  V.  exclaimed,  "  The  monk  would  not  make 
a  heretic  of  me." 

But  the  German  princes,  Frederic  the  Wise,  Eric  of 
Brunswick,  and  Philip  of  Hesse,  were  proud  of  their 
countryman,  and  agreed  that  he  had  stood  out  bravely  for 
his  convictions  against  all  objections  and  threats.  By 
their  advice  he  took  his  departure  immediately  after  the 
hearing  at  Worms  ;  they  did  not  think  it  safe  for  him  to 
linger ;  the  Elector  Frederic  even  thought  it  needful  to 
place  him  in  safety  by  a  nocturnal  surprise,  and  to  with- 
draw him  for  a  time  from  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

The  rest  of  the  Diet  was  occupied  with  transactions  of 
a  different  kind,  and  it  did  not  appear  as  if  any  steps  would 
be  taken  about  the  heresy,  when,  on  the  251)1  of  May,  the 
Emperor  had  the  princes  who  were  still  present  suddenly 
summoned,  to  submit  for  their  approval  the  decree  which 
had  been  prepared  concerning  Luther.  Many  of  the 
representatives  were  no  longer  present,  particularly  those 
from  whom  opposition  might  be  expected  ;  but  in  order  to 
make  the  world  believe  that  the  decision  had  been  arrived 


46  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

at  in  the  presence  of  all  the  princes,  the  prudent  pre- 
caution was  taken  of  dating  the  decree,  of  which  nobody  had 
heard  till  the  25th,  back  to  the  8th.  This  artifice  of  the 
Papal  Nuncio,  Alexander,  showed  that  his  party  were  not 
sure  of  their  ground,  and  were  obliged  to  smuggle  in  a 
sentence  which  a  fortnight  before  they  could  not  have  hoped 
to  carry.  The  decree  thus  obtained  was  signed  by  the 
Emperor  on  the  26th  of  May,  and  pronounced  upon  Luther, 
his  friends,  followers,  and  patrons,  a  sentence  of  ban  and 
double  ban,  and  condemned  his  works  to  be  burned.  The 
sentence  enumerates  all  Luther's  heresies,  and  then  says  : — 

"  Thus  this  individual,  not  a  man,  but  one  like  the  evil 
one  in  human  form,  under  a  monk's  cowl,  has  gathered 
together  in  one  stinking  mass  a  number  of  heretics  who 
have  been  long  concealed,  and  hold  most  damnable  heresies ; 
and  he  has  even  devised  some  fresh  ones  under  pretence  of 
preaching  faith,  which  he  has  so  assiduously  made  every 
one  believe,  in  order  that  he  may  destroy  the  real  true 
faith,  and  under  the  name  and  guise  of  evangelical  doctrine, 
put  an  end  to  all  evangelical  peace,  and  love,  and  all  good 
order." 

The  proceedings  at  Worms  are  then  related ;  how,  in 
spite  of  all  admonitions,  "  which  might  have  moved  and 
softened  the  most  obdurate  man,  even  had  he  been 
harder  than  stone,"  "  he  had  refused  to  recant,"  and  with 
"  those  unbecoming  words  and  gestures  which  in  no  way 
beseem  any  thoughtful  ecclesiastic  of  good  repute,  openly 
declared  that  he  would  not  alter  a  word  in  his  books." 

Safe-conduct  was  granted  to  Luther  for  twenty  days  after 
his  departure  :  after  this,  that  is,  after  the  i4th  of  May,  it 
was  forbidden  under  severe  penalties  "  to  give  the  aforesaid 
Luther  house  or  home,  food,  drink,  or  shelter,  to  afford 
him  help  or  countenance,  openly  or  secretly,  by  words 
or  actions."  He  is  rather  to  be  secured  and  given  up 
wherever  he  may  be  found.  In  conclusion,  measures  were 
taken  against  the  printing  and  printers  of  his  works. 

Thus,  after  a  blow  had  been  struck  at  heresy  by  the 
ecclesiastical  ban,  it  was  sentenced  to  death  by  the 
secular  ban  of  the  empire.  The  Lutheran  heresy  was  to 
be  exterminated  by  all  the  weapons  of  the  temporal  power, 
so  it  was  stated  in  the  edict  of  the  26th  of  May.  But  the 
edict  shared  the  fate  of  the  papal  bull.  Nobody  heeded  it. 
Two  years  later  the  Diet  came  to  a  precisely  contrary  resolu- 


GROWTH  OF    POWER  IN  FRANCE.  47 

tion  ;  and  after  nine  years,  the  Emperor,  on  his  return, 
found  that  the  disturbance,  instead  of  being  quelled,  had 
attained  gigantic  proportions.  The  opportunity  of  1521 
did  not  occur  again.  It  was  a  misfortune  for  the  Emperor, 
but  it  was  also  a  misfortune  for  our  nation ;  it  suffers  from 
it  to  this  day. 

GROWTH  OF  THE  REGAL  POWER  IN  FRANCE.* 

It  was  the  impending  war  with  France  that  mainly 
induced  Charles  to  treat  the  German  reform  question  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  please  the  power  on  whose  support  he 
was  relying  in  Italy.  The  struggle  in  Northern  Italy  now 
began  which  occupied  the  Emperor  for  almost  a  generation, 
and  completed  the  estrangement  between  him  and  the 
Germans.  These  tedious  complications  were  a  great  help 
to  the  Reformation  ;  but  France  was  even  then  beginning 
to  acquire  that  power  and  unity  as  a  state  which  were  so 
fatal  to  Germany  and  Europe  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

We  linger  for  a  time  over  the  growth  of  the  French 
power,  in  order  that  we  may  understand  the  causes  of  sub- 
sequent developments. 

The  internal  constitution  of  France  was  essentially  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Germany.  Both  countries  had  originally 
belonged  to  the  Carlovingian  emphe,  but  both  had  separated 
from  it  at  an  early  period.  The  character  of  the  nations 
differed  too  widely. 

While  the  tendency  of  public  life  in  Germany  during 
the  course  of  centuries  has  increasingly  been  towards  the 
manifold  forms  of  individuality,  and  the  old  Germanic 
spirit  of  liberty  has  asserted  itself,  in  France  we  may  observe 
the  tendency  of  the  Romanic  nations  to  submit  with  more 
facility  to  great  organizations.! 

In  France,  or  in  the  west  of  France,  there  was  no  thought 

*  Ranke,  "  French  History." 

f  Thus  broadly  stated,  I  do  not.  consider  this  distinction  just,  though 
it  is  frequently  made.  The  consequences  of  our  want  of  political  unity 
are  too  often  taken  for  the  causes.  That  spirit  of  individuality  which 
is  inimical  to  the  State  was  no  less  strongly  developed  among  the  great 
men  of  France  in  the  Middle  Ages  than  among  the  Germans,  and  I  see 
no  difference  between  the  loyalty  of  the  French  citizen  class  and  the 
loyalty  of  the  German  cities  to  the  Emperor  which  is  at  all  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  latter.  But  in  France  the  highest  powers  in  the 
State  knew  better  who  were  their  natural  allies  than  they  did  in 
Germany. — ED. 


48  THE   REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

of  resistance  to  Charlemagne,  for  ever  since  the  battle  of 
Alesia  the  people  were  accustomed  to  renounce  their 
individual  liberties  and  to  submit  to  a  monarchical  govern- 
ment. There  was  a  centralizing  tendency  in  the  tastes  of 
the  people  earlier  than  there  was  in  Germany.  There  were, 
indeed,  greater  and  lesser  vassals,  even  independent  princes, 
in  comparison  with  whom  the  impotence  of  the  sovereign 
was  painfully  obvious,  but  the  national  characteristics  were 
different  from  ours,  and  prevented  the  divisions  of  territories 
and  families  from  destroying  unity,  as  has  been  the  case 
with  us. 

After  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  came  that  manly 
though  not  highly  gifted  race  of  the  Cnpets,  who,  favoured  by 
fortune,  went  quietly  to  work,  step  by  step,  to  found  the 
monarchy.  Germany  was  also  distinguished  from  France 
by  this,  that  in  the  former  the  principle  of  election  was  in 
favour,  which  is  incompatible  with  a  solid  government,  while 
in  France  a  hereditary  monarchy  was  early  established 
without  difficulty. 

France  thus  had  a  people  disposed  for,  and  for  centuries 
trained  to,  monarchical  unity,  and  a  hereditary  dynasty 
which  therefore  had  not  always,  like  the  German  kings,  to 
make  a  fresh  start ;  then  they  had  long  reigns,  from  forty 
to  fifty  years,  which  were  admirably  adapted  to  accustom 
the  people  to  transitions  to  new  orders  of  things ;  and 
France  was  much  more  favourably  situated  geographically. 

It  was  open  on  the  eastern  side ;  none  of  the  country  to 
the  east,  from  the  Rhone  to  Flanders  and  Artois,  belonged 
to  France  till  a  much  later  period ;  but  the  rest  was 
admirably  fitted  by  nature  for  one  united  state,  bounded 
as  it  was  by  the  Pyrenees  on  the  south,  and  by  the  sea  on 
the  two  other  sides. 

But  Germany,  which  might  have  had,  although  she  never 
had,  a  southern  boundary  in  the  Alps,  really  had  a  good 
boundary  on  the  north  side  only,  in  the  North  Sea  and  the 
Baltic ;  on  the  east  and  west  she  always  had  to  guard  an 
insecure  and  ill-defined  frontier.  The  Germany  of  to-day 
was  only  conquered  late  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  Elbe, 
which  now  flows  through  its  centre,  was  then  its  boundary. 

Then  the  position  of  France,  though  not  a  brilliant  one, 
involved  no  European  complications.  The  kingdom  of 
Germany  was  united  to  the  empire,  whose  glory  had  been 
dearly  bought,  and  whose  foreign  policy  was  always  interfered 


GROWTH  OF   POWER  IN  FRANCE.  49 

with  and  rendered  uncertain  by  the  slow  processes  of  the 
internal  administrative  system.  Germany  had  to  thank  her 
perpetual  wars  with  Italy  for  this  state  of  things,  in  which, 
for  whole  generations,  the  best  blood  of  Germany  had  been 
shed  for  no  good  purpose ;  and,  finally,  there  was  the 
great  conflict  with  the  Church,  which  the  King  of  Germany 
had  to  fight  out  alone  because  he  was  also  Emperor. 
While  in  the  eleventh  century  Germany  was  subject  to 
fearful  convulsions,  France  was  pursuing  the  even  tenor 
of  her  way,  and,  unmolested  by  any  foreign  or  especially 
Roman  influence,  she  was  in  a  far  better  position  for  setting 
her  house  in  order.  This  is  why  the  struggle  between 
Church  and  State  in  France  was  never  so  vehement  as 
in  Germany ;  on  the  contrary,  they  worked  together  against 
the  system  of  secular  vassalage. 

The  first  of  the  Capets  was,  like  the  rest,  a  duke,  and 
not  even  one  of  the  most  powerful ;  but  the  gradual 
extension  of  the  dukedom  by  means  of  the  confiscation  of 
expired  or  forfeited  fiefs  was  much  easier  than  in  Germany, 
where  the  principalities  had  a  strong  leaning  to  particular 
dynasties,  while  in  France  no  one  raised  a  finger  against 
confiscation.  The  divisions  of  the  empire  which  have  been 
so  fatal  in  Germany,  the  custom  of  granting  principalities 
to  faithful  vassals  or  near  relatives,  was  unknown  in  France  : 
the  French  princes  remained  merely  princes.  Once  only 
was  a  principality  bestowed  on  a  relative :  by  this  the 
Duchy  of  Burgundy  was  created,  but  its  rulers,  Philip 
the  Good  and  Charles  the  Bold,  entirely  forgot  that  they 
were  vassals  of  France,  which  served  to  teach  the  kings 
not  to  depart  from  their  ancient  policy. 

Thus  the  period  of  the  Crusades  found  France  in  a  more 
settled  state  than  any  other  country  of  the  Continent,  and 
the  nation  entered  into  the  movement  with  real  enthusiasm. 
The  romantic  and  adventurous  character  of  it  fascinated 
the  nation,  and  the  kings  headed  these  national  enterprises, 
although  they  did  not  offer  much  prospect  of  gain  to  France  ; 
but  the  kingdom  derived  this  great  advantage  from  them, 
that  they  provided  an  outlet  for  the  superfluous  energies 
of  the  high  aristocracy,  who  more  and  more  disappeared 
from  the  scene.  Thus  as  early  as  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
while  the  kingdom  of  Germany,  in  perpetual  conflict  with 
the  Principalities  and  the  Church,  was  making  no  progress, 
the  French  kingdom  was  advancing  rapidly  towards  unity ; 


50  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

and  St.  Louis,  who  as  a  cavalier  and  good  son  of  the 
Church  was  a  genuine  Frenchman,  was  diligently  and  suc- 
cessfully employed  in  founding  a  monarchy  which  should 
outlive  the  storms  of  time. 

Then  came  the  severe  test  of  the  long  war  with  Eng- 
land, in  which  two  aristocracies  tore  each  other  to  pieces 
for  nothing.  England  repeatedly  had  her  kings  proclaimed 
at  Paris,  and  no  decisive  result  took  place  until  the  French 
people  were  roused  and  asserted  their  independence  with 
the  sword. 

This  took  place  under  Charles  VIL,  from  1421 — 61. 
He  was  one  of  those  far-sighted,  cautious,  agreeable  people 
who  accomplish  a  great  deal  by  patience,  perseverance, 
amiability,  and  good-nature,  and  often  easily  attain  an 
object  which  much  more  talented  men  find  it  very  difficult 
to  reach  by  an  attitude  of  defiance. 

After  a  foreign  war  which  had  lasted  a  century,  and 
had  developed  into  a  civil  war,  a  royal  dictatorship  was 
most  necessary;  it  gave  the  State  peace,  legal  protection, 
power,  and  unity  ;  and  Charles  VII.  understood  his  mission  : 
he  was  thoroughly  a  king,  like  Louis  IX.  He  did  not  dis- 
grace his  victory  over  the  city  of  Paris  by  any  acts  of 
revenge  :  for  the  first  time  during  this  long  struggle  the 
supremacy  of  one  resulted  in  reconciliation  to  the  rest, 
instead  of  fresh  subjection.  The  Pragmatic  Sanction,  which 
was  solemnly  confirmed  by  the  French  clergy  at  Bourges 
in  1438,  secured  the  national  Church  of  France  against 
illegal  gifts  of  benefices  and  extortions  by  the  court  of 
Rome,  and  the  new  parliament,  removed  from  Poictiers  to 
Paris,  became  the  centre  of  the  regal  administration  of 
justice,  and  preserved  France  from  all  encroachments  of 
ecclesiastical  power.  At  a  meeting  of  the  States  at  Orleans, 
in  1439,  the  lawless  paid  troops  of  the  nobles  were  dis- 
banded, and  the  right  of  maintaining  a  paid  army,  and  of 
levying  a  tax  for  the  purpose,  delegated  to  the  king  alone.* 

Thus  were  laid  the  foundations  of  the  modern  mo- 
narchical military  system  and  political  economy.  And  all 
this  was  amicably  accomplished  by  one  man  with  the  aid  of 
the  country  itself.  What  Charles  VII.  had  thus  slowly  and 
cautiously  established  was  carried  on  with  far  greater  energy 
by  his  son. 

*  Ranke. 


GROWTH  OF    POWER  IN  FRANCE.  51 

Louis  XL  was  a  tyrannical  character,  after  the  pattern 
of  the  Italian  statesmen  of  the  fifteenth  century,  hardened 
in  all  the  unscrupulousness  and  rudeness  of  the  age,  and 
when  they  served  his  purpose  he  did  not  shrink  from  the 
most  frightful  crimes. 

Louis  XI.  (1461 — 83)  had  again  to  defend  what  his 
family  had  laboured  so  hard  to  acquire  from  a  revolt  of 
all  the  great  vassals,  under  the  greatest  of  them,  Charles 
the  Bold  of  Burgundy,  in  1465.  After  suffering  defeat  at 
first,  Louis  triumphed  finally  over  the  dynasty:  with  the 
help  of  the  Swiss  he  utterly  vanquished  Charles  and  his 
proud  domain.  This  at  once  brought  Picardy  and  Burgundy 
under  his  sway,  and  no  one  ventured  to  oppose  when 
he  added  Guienne  and  Provence  to  the  crown.  He  was 
utterly  unscrupulous  as  to  the  means  he  employed  in  his 
struggle  with  the  great  nobles  ;  but  the  citizens  and  peasantry 
sided  with  him,  for  he  confirmed  their  ancient  provincial 
rights  and  conferred  new  privileges  on  the  cities.  In  one 
place  he  was  ready  to  convoke  the  States ;  in  another 
he  allowed  the  citizens  to  meet  and  choose  their  own 
officials;  and  to  the  peaceable  inhabitants  of  town  and 
country  he  gave  the  benefits  of  an  impartial  administration 
of  justice  by  the  parliamentary  judges,  who  could  not  be 
dismissed.  In  spite  of  his  execrable  private  character 
and  his  utter  want  of  moral  greatness,  France  justly  con- 
siders him  one  of  the  most  meritorious  founders  of  her  unity 
as  a  state. 

Thus,  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  a  powerful 
monarchy  existed  in  France,  not  as  yet  unlimited,  but 
moderated  by  law  and  usage  :  still  it  was  a  royal  dictator- 
ship of  extraordinary  power. 

FRANCIS  I.,  1515-47. — INTERNAL  AND  FOREIGN  POLICY. 

Francis  I.  had  succeeded  to  the  monarchy  in  1515. 
He  had  at  once  distinguished  himself  on  his  accession  to 
power  by  asserting  the  claims  of  his  predecessors  in  Italy, 
gained  the  victory  at  Marignano  (September,  1515)  in  a 
rapid  campaign,  and  took  Milan,  by  which  he  acquired  a 
more  brilliant  reputation  than  he  was  able  to  maintain. 

In  his  internal  policy,  all  the  principles  which  afterwards 
actuated  the  kings  and  statesmen  of  France  may  already 
be  recognised.  He  tries  to  free  the  monarchical  power 


52  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

from  all  limits  from  within :  a  sole  monarchy  being  esta- 
blished, his  aim  now  was  to  make  it  absolute.  One  of  his  first 
acts  was  the  Concordat  with  Rome  in  1516,  which  sacrificed 
a  portion  of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church  to  the 
Pope,  but  it  gave  the  King  in  return  boundless  influence 
over  the  Church  in  France. 

At  the  great  councils  of  the  fifteenth  century  France 
had  succeeded  in  preserving  the  peculiar  rights  of  her 
national  Church,  which  Germany  had  also  ardently  longed 
to  do,  but  in  which,  thanks  to  her  political  disruption,  she 
had  not  succeeded.  The  Council  at  Bourges,  1483,  had 
proclaimed  the  freedom  of  the  Gallican  Church  by  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction.  The  Church  government  of  France, 
her  episcopal  system,  her  general  position  in  relation  to 
Rome,  had  become  more  independent  than  that  of  any 
other  country,  and  the  odious  custom  of  the  distribution  of 
benefices  according  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  court  of 
Rome  was  abolished.  But  Rome  did  not  easily  sub- 
mit to  this :  having  defrauded  Germany  of  her  promised 
liberties,  the  hope  was  not  given  up  of  reinstating  the  old 
state  of  things  in  France.  In  the  Concordat  of  1516,  the 
King,  who  was  above  all  things  desirous  of  a  reconciliation 
with  the  Pope,  succeeded  in  obtaining  some  important  de- 
cisions of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  relating  to  the  superiority 
of  councils  to  the  Pope,  the  papal  supremacy,  and  annars ; 
but  the  King  did  not  yield  these  points  for  nothing ;  the 
Church  had  to  indemnify  him  abundantly,  and  grant  him 
the  right  of  presentation  to  an  enormous  extent.  According, 
to  French  accounts,  France  had  then  ten  archbishoprics, 
eighty-three  bishoprics,  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
abbacies ;  and  the  King  obtained  the  right,  under  merely 
nominal  limits,  of  nominating  the  holders  of  all  these 
offices,  who  had  previously  been  elected. 

It  was  conceded  to  Rome  that  the  Gallican  Church 
should  give  up  a  portion  of  her  liberties,  and  the  King 
assumed  the  right  of  nomination  at  the  expense  of  the 
elective  right  of  the  clergy — a  privilege  which  gave  him 
enormous  resources  for  providing  for  followers,  granting 
favours,  and  making  the  Church  an  institution  entirely 
devoted  to  himself.  Whether  this  was  an  advantage  to 
the  Church  we  shall  see  by-and-by. 

It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  French  rule  to  nominate 
to  as  many  posts  as  possible  from  one  centre,  in  order  to 


FRANCIS   I.  53 

provide  for  as  many  dependants  as  possible.  This  system 
has  been  pursued  ever  since  the  time  of  Francis  I.,  under 
the  old  regime,  the  Republic,  the  Empire,  the  Restora- 
tion, the  Government  of  July,  and  the  second  Empire. 

A  second  innovation  was  the  plan  of  selling  legal  and 
administrative  offices. 

Each  of  the  ancient  crown  lands  had  a  parliament,  or 
superior  court,  and  during  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  in  1444  and  1501,  parliaments  were  granted  to 
the  new  provinces  also.  By  introducing  the  custom  of 
selling  places  in  these  parliaments,  Francis  I.  attained  two 
objects :  he  suppressed  the  provincial  spirit  which  reigned 
in  these  courts,  and  superseded  it  by  the  submissive  spirit 
of  members  who  were  dependent  on  the  crown;  and  it 
created  a  great  source  of  income,  which,  together  with  the 
increased  military  tax,  raised  his  revenues  to  a  sum  far 
above  that  of  any  other  prince. 

Besides  the  sale  of  the  judicial  places,  there  was  the  sale 
of  offices  of  every  sort,  the  number  of  which  was  im- 
mensely increased,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  royal 
coffers.  The  annual  income  from  this  source  is  estimated  at 
four  hundred  thousand  francs.  But  these  novel  practices 
gave  rise  to  opposition,  and  the  parliaments  protested.  This 
showed  what  the  royal  authority  could  venture  to  do  even 
then.  Francis  I.  behaved  as  imperiously  as  Louis  XIV. 
afterwards  did,  when  he  entered  the  parliament  whip  in 
hand.  Francis  told  the  malcontents  that  he  gave  them 
twenty-four  hours  to  consider,  and  if  they  would  not  then 
submit  he  would  have  them  imprisoned ;  and  so  little 
independent  spirit  was  there,  that  they  actually  submitted. 

As  may  be  supposed,  the  relation  of  Francis  to  the 
religious  questions  of  the  day  was  a  perfectly  simple  one  :  his 
sentiments  on  these  subjects  were  as  frivolous  as  those  of  all 
the  dignitaries  of  both  Church  and  State  at  that  period,  and 
his  life  and  morals  were  a  pasquinade  upon  all  religion. 
He  regarded  the  subject  in  a  purely  political  light,  and  said 
to  himself,  "  Protestantism,  in  the  shape  it  takes  in  France, 
makes  a  division  in  the  nation  ;  it  destroys  the  unity  of 
the  monarchy.  Calvinism,  indeed,  has  a  strong  democratic 
element  in  it ;  it  is  based  upon  the  principle  of  self-govern- 
ment and  individual  independence ;  it  is  therefore  an  enemy 
to  be  resisted  to  the  utmost."  Catholicism,  in  fact,  signified 
national  unity  in  France,  which  had  developed  into  the 


54  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

essential  characteristic  of  the  monarchy,  and  every  other 
consideration  had  to  give  way  to  it. 

But  this  did  not  prevent  Francis  from  being  a  warm 
friend  and  ally  of  Protestantism  in  Germany,  though  he 
burnt  and  persecuted  its  adherents  in  France  ;  the  policy 
which  suffered  no  schism  at  home  found  it  very  judicious 
to  foment  it  with  all  its  might  abroad.  Indeed  Francis  I. 
was  so  free  from  any  mediaeval  prejudices  that  he  did 
things  which  no  Christian  of  those  times  could  think  of 
without  horror.  On  one  point,  in  spite  of  its  national  and 
dogmatic  schisms,  all  Christendom  was  agreed — that  the 
Turk  was  the  hereditary  enemy  of  Christendom,  and  that 
it  must  prepare  for  a  fresh  crusade  to  repulse  the  roughest 
and  most  degenerate  race  of  Turks  that  had  settled  not 
only  in  Asia,  but  also  in  Europe.  In  face  of  this  common 
enemy  religious  differences  disappeared,  even  in  Germany. 
When  the  Turks  approached  and  threatened  Vienna,  there 
was  a  general  call  to  arms,  which  was  eagerly  obeyed  both 
by  Catholics  and  Protestants. 

But  for  Francis  I.  the  Turk  was  only  a  political  factor, 
like  Protestantism  in  Germany  and  Calvinism  in  France. 
The  Turkish  difficulty  was  a  millstone  which  might  be  hung 
round  the  neck  of  the  Hapsburger  to  insure  peace  and  quiet 
in  the  West.  The  King  did  indeed  bear  the  title  of  'Rex 
Christianissimus,  but  on  this  point  he  had  no  conscience. 
The  French,  who  now  first  broke  with  the  Middle  Ages, 
have  always  kept  to  this  policy  of  setting  the  Osman  upon 
Germany,  that  they  themselves  might  grasp  at  the  Rhine. 

All  the  features  of  the  domestic  and  foreign  policy  of 
modern  France  now  begin  to  be  discernible.  The  monarchy, 
absolute  and  strictly  centralized,  is  bent  upon  foreign  con- 
quest. 

The  attempt  of  Francis  I.  to  obtain  the  imperial  crown 
introduced  him  at  once  into  the  vortex  of  foreign  politics. 
He  had  no  delusions  on  the  subject  of  the  real  power 
conferred  by  the  imperial  crown.  Still  the  name  and  glory 
of  it  excited  his  ambition.  It  never  occurred  to  him  to 
wish  to  rule  in  Germany  as  he  did  in  France  ;  he  did  not 
covet  any  more  intimate  connection  with  the  chaotic 
elements  of  the  German  constitution  ;  but  it  would  have 
been  quite  enough  for  him,  and  would  have  justified  his 
being  a  candidate,  from  the  French  point  of  view,  to  have 
exercised  a  little  authority  as  Protector  of  the  Confedera- 


CAMPAIGN  OF    1521-26.  55 

tion  of  the  Rhine,  and  thus  to  exert  a  legitimate  French 
influence  over  the  west  of  Germany,  and  avert  the  rise  of 
a  formidable  rival  power. 

This  would  have  made  Francis  I.  an  opponent  of  any 
German  emperor,  especially  of  one  with  such  a  patrimony 
as  Charles  V.  Two  such  powers  could  not  have  existed 
side  by  side,  even  had  they  been  less  directly  brought  into 
contact.  France  was  always  striving  to  obtain  a  natural 
boundary  on  the  east  and  north-east  as  well  as  on  the 
south,  but  Charles  V.  was  ever  in  his  way:  in  one  case 
as  inheritor  of  the  Duchy  of  Burgundy,  the  confiscation  of 
which  by  Louis  XI.  he  of  course  did  not  acknowledge ;  in 
the  other,  as  King  of  Spain,  whose  natural  Pyrenean 
boundary  was  not  then  exactly  the  boundary  of  France. 
This  alone  rendered  it  certain  that  a  collision  would  sooner 
or  later  take  place. 

The  outbreak  occurred  in  Northern  Italy.  The  houses  of 
Valois  and  Hapsburg  made  equal  claims  upon  the  ancient 
imperial  territories  of  Milan  and  Genoa,  and  this  was 
their  first  battle-field. 

Thus  arose  the  great  war  of  1521-26,  which  neither 
answered  the  King's  expectations  nor  added  to  his  fame. 

CAMPAIGN  OF  1521-26. 

The  contest  began  at  the  end  of  1520  in  Navarra.  This 
campaign  is  only  interesting  from  the  fact  that  it  was  at 
the  defence  of  Pampeluna  against  the  French  that  Ignatius 
Loyola  received  the  wound  which  led  to  his  renouncing 
this  world's  chivalry  and  devoting  himself  to  spiritual 
warfare. 

At  first,  in  1521  and  1522,  fortune  favoured  Charles  V. 
In  spite  of  the  faithlessness  of  the  Confederation,  which  at 
first  placed  all  its  infantry  at  the  disposal  of  the  Emperor 
and  the  Pope,  and  then  suffered  them  to  be  diverted  by 
French  money,  the  allied  armies  were  everywhere  successful. 
On  the  27th  April,  1522,  the  Swabian  vassals,  under  the 
imperial  Captain  George  Frundsberg,  supported  by  Spanish 
and  Italian  auxiliaries,  defeated  the  Swiss  and  French 
troops  at  Bicocca,  and  the  whole  of  Milan  again  came  into 
the  hands  of  Francesco  Sibrza,  who  acknowledged  the 
Emperor  as  feudal  sovereign.  As  the  Swiss  returned  home 
and  the  French  gave  up  the  campaign  for  lost,  Genoa 


56  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

could  no  longer  be  held,  and  thus  in  a  few  months  the 
Emperor  became  master  of  the  whole  of  Northern  Italy. 

Meanwhile  the  position  of  European  affairs  had  become 
extremely  favourable  for  Charles  V.  Francis  stood  quite 
alone,  and  was  threatened  with  internal  divisions.  England 
sided  with  the  Emperor,  and  the  papal  policy  and  his  own 
were  closely  united. 

Leo  X.  died  in  December,  1521,  and  his  ally  the  Emperor 
found  no  difficulty  in  exerting  a  strong  influence  over  the 
election  of  his  successor;  his  former  tutor,  Cardinal  von 
Utrecht,  was  made  Pope.  He  was  a  strict  and  simple 
monk,  brought  monastic  discipline,  in  its  best  sense,  to 
the  Holy  See,  and  in  this  spirit  he  was  ready  to  promote  a 
reform  in  the  Church.  Dogmatically  he  maintained  the 
old  doctrines  of  the  Church ;  but  upon  the  necessity  for 
improvement  in  the  lives  and  conduct  of  the  ecclesiastics 
he  was  of  the  same  opinion  as  the  Reformers.  The 
short  reign  of  this  pope  is  especially  instructive  as  bearing 
on  the  question  how  far  it  was  possible  to  carry  out  reform 
in  and  with  Rome.  We  shall  recur  to  this  again. 

In  politics  the  Pope  was  entirely  submissive  to  his  pupil. 
Francis  I.  could  not  hope  for  any  advancement  of  his 
cause  from  this  quarter  any  more  than  from  his  arms.  A 
catastrophe  then  happened  in  France  itself,  which  appeared 
to  promise  unexampled  success  to  the  Emperor.  The  system 
of  vassalage,  the  great  feudal  power  which  seemed  to  have 
been  for  ever  abolished  by  Louis  XL,  once  more  rose  up 
against  the  King,  and  with  a  sufficiently  threatening  aspect, 
though  it  had  but  one  formidable  representative. 

A  relation  of  the  royal  house  on  the  paternal  side,  not 
only  the  most  distinguished  man  in  the  kingdom,  next  to 
the  King,  but  also  the  most  wealthy,  the  Constable  Charles 
of  Bourbon,  took  the  side  of  the  enemies  of  Francis. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  St.  Louis  had  married  one  of 
his  sons  to  a  wealthy  heiress,  who  brought  to  her  husband 
the  territory  of  Bourbon.  The  last  of  the  Bourbons,  Duke 
Peter,  had  no  male  heir ;  his  daughter  Susanna  was  his 
heiress,  and  Louis  XII.  gave  her  in  marriage  to  the  prince 
of  the  younger  line,  Count  Charles  of  Montpensier.  By 
this  marriage  he  received  no  less  than  two  principalities, 
two  duchies,  four  earldoms,  two  viscounties,  seven  consider- 
able territories,  and  an  almost  regal  income.  As  a  relation 
of  the  reigning  house  he  acquired  the  office  of  Constable, 


CAMPAIGN   OF    1521-26.  57 

and  might  even  one  day  aspire  to  the  crown.  This  con- 
tingency, which  then  appeared  somewhat  distant,  soon 
really  happened  to  the  other  Bourbon  line.  It  then 
appeared  extremely  improbable  that  of  all  Francis's  sons 
only  Henry  II.,  whose  children  died  early,  would  survive 
him. 

The  character  of  Charles  of  Bourbon  was  entirely  different 
from  that  of  Francis  I.  Better  acquainted  with  serious  busi- 
ness, less  devoted  to  the  frivolous  arts  and  pleasures  of  the 
court,  not  only  a  brave  soldier  but  an  experienced  general, 
not  a  rash  Hotspur  upon  the  battle-field  like  the  King,  pos- 
sessing cool,  calculating,  far-sighted  ambition,  he  was  a  man 
whose  personal  qualities  made  him  greatly  his  superior. 

Favoured  at  first  by  the  King,  he  was  afterwards  ne- 
glected, and  after  the  death  of  his  childless  wife  Susanna 
they  were  at  open  enmity.  The  Queen-mother,  as  niece  of 
Duke  Peter,  wanted  to  deprive  him  of  his  possessions.  It 
came  to  a  trial  and  a  rupture,  and  in  August,  1522,  Charles 
applied  to  the  Emperor  and  to  Henry  VIII.  of  England  to 
help  him  to  become  independent  of  Francis. 

There  were  great  expectations  from  such  revolts,  which, 
when  the  system  of  vassalage  was  still  in  its  vigour  and  was 
supported  by  a  sentiment  of  historical  clanship,  were  often 
successful ;  but  this  was  not  then  the  state  of  things  in 
France,  where  the  instinct  of  nationality  and  loyalty  to  the 
regal  government  already  prevailed  over  every  other  con- 
sideration. At  first  the  affair  had  a  formidable  aspect,  for  it 
appeared  as  if  a  long  train  of  retainers  would  follow  the 
most  powerful  noble  in  the  kingdom.  Bourbon  had  pro- 
mised ten  thousand  infantry  if  the  allies  would  attack  the 
country  in  three  places  simultaneously.  But,  in  truth,  all 
that  resulted  from  it  was  that  the  Emperor  acquired  in 
Charles  a  brave  general,  who  was  condemned  as  a  ruler  in 
France  from  the  moment  when  he  called  in  the  aid  of  foreign 
arms.  The  kingdom  gained  more  than  it  lost  by  this  cir- 
cumstance. The  whole  enterprise  which  was  built  upon 
the  revolt  failed.  The  scheme  had  been  to  carry  the  war 
into  the  heart  of  France,  to  excite  all  malcontents  to  take 
up  arms  against  the  King,  and  to  divide  the  kingdom  into 
two  parts ;  but  the  German,  Dutch,  and  Spanish  troops  who 
invaded  Champagne,  Picardy,  and  Languedoc,  found  no 
support  anywhere,  and  when,  in  the  summer  of  1524, 
Bourbon  himself  led  an  army,  consisting  of  German, 


58  THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY. 

Spanish,  and  Italian  troops,  into  Provence,  it  was  only  with 
difficulty  that  town  after  town  was  taken,  and  while  the 
assailants  were  losing  precious  time  over  the  fruitless  siege 
of  Marseilles,  France  was  making  immense  sacrifices  lor 
the  very  princes  against  whom  the  revolt  had  been  made. 
Thus  the  failure  of  this  campaign  and  the  awakening  of  a 
national  instinct  in  France  changed  the  military  aspect  of 
affairs  in  favour  of  King  Francis. 

In  spite  of  his  victories,  the  Emperor  was  not  in  a  position 
to  carry  on  the  war  long  without  a  decisive  result.  He  fully 
experienced  the  curse  of  hireling  troops.  The  Swiss,  who 
were  dependent  on  the  policy  of  their  cantons,  were  twice 
recalled,  desertion  affected  the  rest  on  a  large  scale,  and 
nothing  availed  to  prevent  it.  The  German  vassals  alone 
remained  true  to  him,  and  these  were  commanded  by  brave 
and  trusty  generals,  who  did  not  fail  the  Emperor  even 
when  he  was  short  of  money. 

Under  the  impression  of  the  recent  turn  of  affairs, 
Francis  I.  had  applied  to  the  people  for  aid,  and  an  ex- 
traordinary war-tax  was  granted  him  voluntarily  by  the 
towns  and  extorted  from  the  clergy  and  nobles.  With 
these  means  he  had  assembled  a  new  and  brilliant  army, 
and  in  the  winter  of  1524-5  it  had  crossed  the  Alps  and 
advanced  into  the  plains  of  Lombardy.  Francis  drove 
the  imperial  troops  before  him,  and  everything  appeared 
to  be  in  his  favour  when,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1525, 
the  imperialists  resolved  to  give  battle  at  Pavia,  for  their 
only  chance  was  starvation  or  a  decisive  encounter.  They 
relied  upon  the  superior  generalship  of  Pescara  and  Frunds- 
berg,  the  tough  resistance  of  the  German  troops,  and  the 
fearful  effect  of  their  hooked  arquebuses ;  and  they  were 
right.  The  mail-clad  French  knighthood  fought  valiantly, 
Francis  at  their  head,  always  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight, 
and  forgetting  the  part  of  commander  in  that  of  a  cavalier. 
For  an  hour  and  a  half  the  combat  continued ;  first  the 
German  vassals,  from  Guelders  and  Lorraine,  in  the  right 
wing  of  the  French,  were  cut  down  by  their  imperial  coun- 
trymen ;  then  the  centre,  composed  of  the  knights  in  coats 
of  mail  and  the  Swiss,  was  broken,  and  the  army  thereby 
almost  annihilated :  the  King  himself  was  taken  prisoner. 
Peace  was  now  inevitable,  and  Charles  V.,  as  victor,  was  in 
a  position  to  dictate  the  terms. 

Charles  was  then  at  Madrid,  and  was  so  little  prepared 


RESULT  OF  THE   CAMPAIGN.  59 

for  victory  that  from  every  messenger  he  expected  news 
of  defeat  He  is  said  to  have  received  the  news  of  the 
brilliant  victory  of  Pavia  with  indescribable  emotion ;  the 
revulsion  of  feeling  affected  him  deeply. 

Thus  the  result  of  Charles's  campaign  was  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  what  the  world  expected.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  contest  there  was  a  general  opinion  that  Francis 
would  be  the  victor..  The  abilities  of  the  chivalrous  King 
as  a  commander  were  greatly  overrated,  and  the  means 
and  talents  of  the  youthful  Emperor  undervalued.  The 
French  had  not  one  victorious  day  during  the  whole  cam- 
paign, and  the  victor  of  Marignano  was  a  prisoner  in 
Charles's  camp. 

The  five  years  of  war  were  very  decisive  for  the  position 
of  Charles :  they,  to  a  certain  extent,  gave  him  a  place  in 
the  world's  opinion.  It  had  before  been  said  that  he  was 
nothing  but  the  heir  of  his  forefathers ;  that  opinion  was 
now  changed.  He  had  certainly  had  more  good  fortune  than 
he  had  shown  personal  prowess ;  but  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  whole,  and  in  the  selection  of  those  under  him,  he 
had  shown  talents  for  which  he  had  not  before  been  given 
credit.  He  was  no  longer  the  insignificant  Burgundian 
prince  to  whom  birth  and  destiny  had  assigned  an  un- 
merited importance ;  he  now  really  assumed  the  dignity  of 
a  world-wide  empire  with  which  he  had  previously  only 
seemed  to  be  invested  by  a  strange  caprice  of  fortune. 

This  campaign  made  a  pause,  during  which  the  Reforma- 
tion movement  went  on  in  peace,  unmolested  by  any  edict 
of  the  Church  or  exercise  of  imperial  power. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Situation  of  Germany  during  the  absence  of  Charles  V. — Luther 
in  the  Wartburg.— The  Translation  of  the  Bible  and  its  Signifi- 
cance.— Luther  and  the  Radicals  at  Wittenberg. — The  Eight 
Sermons  against  Carlstadt,  March,  1522. — Luther's  cause  before 
the  Imperial  Chamber  and  the  Diet  of  Nuremberg,  1522-23. 
— The  Resolution  of  January  I3th,  1523. — The  One  Hundred 
Gravamina. — The  Decree  about  the  Preaching  of  the  Gospel. 

GERMANY  DURING  THE  ABSENCE  OF  CHARLES  V. — LUTHER 
IN  THE  WARTBURG.  —  THE  TRANSLATION  OF  THE 
BIBLE  AND  ITS  SIGNIFICANCE. 

A 17  HEN  Luther  left  Worms,  before  sentence  was  pro- 
*  *  nounced,  he  was  seized  by  the  vassals  of  Frederic 
the  Wise  and  taken  to  the  Wartburg.  In  taking  this  pre- 
cautionary measure,  which  Luther  does  not  seem  at  first 
to  have  understood,  the  Elector  was  providing  against  the 
possibility  of  things  coming  to  the  worst.  In  the  mood  in 
which  Germany  then  was,  Luther  had  in  reality  little  to 
fear ;  no  one  had  any  inclination  to  employ  the  temporal 
power  to  enforce  the  Edict  of  Worms.  If  Luther  could  not 
set  foot  in  the  enemy's  country,  he  could  remain  at  home 
without  danger.  Nevertheless,  it  was  prudent  that  he  should 
be  withdrawn  for  a  time  from  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

"Junker  George"  set  himself,  in  the  Wartburg,  to  a  task 
which  was  the  most  important  of  all  his  labours  ;  he  began 
the  translation  of  the  Bible  for  the  German  people. 

The  idea  of  a  translation  into  the  vernacular  was  not  a 
new  one.  A  considerable  number  of  German  translations 
of  the  Bible  might  be  mentioned ;  they  have  all  become 
bibliographical  curiosities,  and  nothing  is  known  of  their 
influence  upon  the  nation.  Luther's  translation,  on  the 
contrary,  is  a  historical  event,  both  for  those  who  regarded 


LUTHER'S  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  BIBLE.      6r 

the  book  as  their  rule  of  faith,  and  for  those  whom  it  pre- 
vented from  longer  withholding  it  from  the  world. 

The  Lutheran  translation  has  some  special  merits.  Not 
that  it  is  free  from  defects  ;  not  that  critics,  theological 
and  philosophical,  have  not  pointed  out  a  multitude  of 
errors  in  it — it  would  be  sad  if  no  progress  had  been  made 
beyond  the  point  reached  by  Luther  and  his  learned  friends 
by  the  researches  of  three  hundred  years — and  yet  we  have 
had  no  translation  for  three  hundred  years  which  can  even 
dispute  the  palm  with  this  one. 

This  is  the  result  of  its  masterly  language.  There  are 
some  translations  which  are  as  much  masterpieces  as  the 
originals  ;  a  certain  congeniality  of  mind  and  soul  is  neces- 
sary to  reproduce  the  true  tone  and  spirit  of  the  original. 
Such  is  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible. 

In  order  faithfully  to  reproduce  the  patriarchal  simplicity, 
the  homely  and  childlike  character  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  to  imitate  the  poetic  strains  of  the  prophets 
and  the  Psalms,  and  again  the  popular  straightforwardness 
of  the  Gospels,  requires  a  vein  of  congeniality — the  spiritual 
affinity  of  a  mind  which  has  preserved  the  simple  and 
honest  originality  of  an  unsophisticated  people.  This  cannot 
be  acquired  by  all  the  learning  in  the  world,  though  it  may 
easily  be  unlearned  in  the  world  and  among  books. 

It  was  precisely  these  qualifications  which  Luther  pos- 
sessed. A  genuine  son  of  his  own  people,  gifted  with  all 
the  wealth  and  depth  of  the  German  mind,  he  could  enter 
into  that  age  of  simple  national  faith ;  he  made  its  spirit  and 
language  his  own,  and  thus  acquired  the  power  of  translating 
into  German  the  religious-poetic  and  poetic-religious  mode 
of  expression.  This  is  nowhere  more  striking  than  in  the 
Psalms.  Herder's  translation  is  much  more  poetical,  but 
he  sacrificed  theology  to  poetry.  Luther  had  a  perfect  con- 
ception of  this  part  of  his  task.  "  Now  no  fine  courtly 
words,"  he  wrote  to  Spalatin;  "this  book  can  only  be 
explained  in  a  simple  and  popular  style." 

But  Luther  took  incredible  pains.  Few  of  his  readers 
know  by  what  hard  work  the  task  was  accomplished. 
We  still  have  some  of  his  translation  in  MS.  He  often 
struck  out  a  passage  as  many  as  fifteen  times,  until  he 
had  found  the  right  expression ;  and  this  when  he  was 
wrestling  with  his  own  tongue.  But  what  difficulties  he 
must  have  encountered  in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  at  a  time 


02  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

v/hen  the  necessary  precursors  in  the  study  of  both  were 
wanting,  and  when  Hebrew  could  mostly  be  learned  only 
from  Jews  !  Then  he  was  convinced  that,  as  a  monk  and 
a  bookworm,  he  was  unacquainted  with  many  things 
with  which  the  ancient  world  was  familiar;  that  he  was 
ignorant  of  many  of  the  clues  which  he  wanted,  and  which 
could  not  be  found  in  books.  He  once  wrote  to  Spalatin 
to  ask  for  the  names  and  descriptions  of  the  precious  stones 
in  Revelation  xxi.  At  another  time,  that  he  might  be  able 
to  describe  the  slaughter  of  beasts  for  sacrifice,  he  had 
"  some  sheep  killed  for  him  "  by  a  butcher,  that  he  might 
learn  "  what  every  part  of  a  sheep  was  called." 

The  New  Testament,  which  was  finished  in  1523,  was 
comparatively  easy;  he  found  the  Old  far  more  difficult,  and 
it  was  not  completed  till  ten  years  afterwards.  He  was 
assisted  by  a  whole  consistory  of  learned  men,  who,  as 
Mathesius  relates,  "just  like  a  private  Sanhedrim,  met  for 
several  hours  before  supper  every  week  in  the  doctor's 
monastery."  They  were  Dr.  Johann  Bugenhagen,  Dr.  Justus 
Jonas,  Dr.  Cruziger,  Philip  Melancthon,  Mattaus  Auro- 
gallas,  George  Rorer,  and  several  rabbis.  Luther  once 
wrote,  when  among  this  circle,  "  We  are  working  very  hard 
to  bring  out  the  Prophets  in  the  mother  tongue.  Good 
God  !  what  a  great  and  difficult  work  it  is  to  make  the 
Hebrew  writers  speak  German  !  they  resist  it  so,  and  are 
not  willing  to  give  up  their  Hebrew  existence  and  imitate 
German  barbarism." 

The  language  used  by  Luther  in  both  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  did  not  exist  before  in  so  pure,  powerful,  and 
genuine  a  form.  He  was  right  when  he  once  wrote,  "  I 
have  not  yet  read  any  book  or  letter  in  which  the  German 
language  is  rightly  used.  Nobody  takes  the  pains  to  write 
German  correctly."  The  high  German  prose  style  had  to 
be  created,  and  it  was  created  by  Luther's  labours. 

Up  to  this  time  Germany  had  a  high  and  a  low  German 
dialect.  Like  the  Thuringian  race  from  which  he  sprang, 
Luther  occupied  the  boundary-line  between  the  two  idioms; 
the  language  that  he  used  was  neither  high  nor  low  German, 
but  a  union  of  the  two,  forming  a  common  third — the  high 
German  as  a  written  language.  In  his  controversial  writings 
Luther  had  already  written  German  in  so  masterly  a  style 
that  it  excited  Hutten's  lively  admiration.  Up  to  this  time 
it  had  been  the  opinion  of  the  Humanists  that  you  could 


LUTHER'S  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  BIBLE.      63 

only  thus  express  yourself  in  Greek  and  Latin.  Luther 
taught  them  that  German  prose  might  be  written  which 
was  not  put  to  shame  by  the  languages  of  antiquity. 

This  new  intellectual  possession  secured  unity  for  us  on 
one  point  at  least,  at  a  time  when  our  religious  and  political 
unity  came  to  an  end,  and  we  have  preserved  it  through  the 
most  unhappy  period  of  our  history. 

It  also  involved  a  most  important  step  in  the  progress  of 
modern  Christendom.  The  Scriptures  were  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  a  privileged  priesthood,  and  given  to  the  people 
in  a  popular  form  intelligible  to  every  man.  The  most 
unnatural  of  the  barriers  between  the  Church  and  the  people 
was  broken  down,  and  the  idea  realised  of  the  universal 
priesthood  of  all.  It  was  an  irreparable  breach  in  the  old 
order  of  things,  and  of  this  the  opponents  of  the  new  tend- 
encies were  deeply  sensible  ;  but  it  was  one  of  the  most 
blessed  revolutions  which  has  ever  taken  place  in  the  world. 
It  was  doubtless  much  more  comfortable  for  the  Church  to 
invent  dogmas  to  be  received  by  the  faithful  without  doubt 
or  question  ;  it  was  much  pleasanter  that  there  should  be  no 
controversy  or  conflict  of  opinion,  for  thus  a  certain  peace 
and  harmony  was  maintained. 

But  this  state  of  things  was  come  to  an  end.  Amidst 
storm  and  tempest  a  voice  began  to  make  itself  heard  which 
was  new  to  all,  and  by  which  many  were  awed.  After  the 
seven  seals  of  Revelation  were  loosed,  and  every  man  claimed 
the  right  to  interpret  the  Bible  for  himself,  the  masses  began 
to  take  an  interest  in  the  disputes  of  the  learned,  and  a  reli- 
gious commotion  stirred  every  rank  of  the  people.*  Not 
all  were  chosen,  though  many  were  called ;  but  the  fact  that 
the  exclusive  interpretation  of  the  Bible  was  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  Church  was  a  stupendous  event  on  which 
too  much  stress  cannot  be  laid,  since  even  from  the  midst  of 
Protestantism  the  complaint  is  sometimes  heard  that  the 
golden  age  has  passed  away.  It  was  hard  for  the  scribes, 
for  they  were  deprived  of  their  monopoly,  but  it  was  quite 
in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  a  religion  not  intended  for 

*  An  enemy  of  Luther,  Cocklaus  says  :  "  Mirum  in  modum  multi- 
plicabatur  per  chalcographos  novum  testamentum  Lutheri,  ut  etiam 
sutores  et  mulieres  et  quilibet  idiote  qui  teutonicas  literas  uticunque 
didicerant,  novum  illud  testamentum  tanquam  fontem  omnis  veritatis 
avidissime  legerent  quicunque  Lutherani  erant  illudque  saepe  legendo 
memoriae  commendarent  in  sinu  secum  oortantes  codicem,"  &c. 


64  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  but  for  those  who  labour  and  are 
heavy-laden. 

Finally,  this  work  was  a  blessing  for  the  national  and 
intellectual  life  of  our  people,  whose  greatness  first  became 
evident  in  the  succeeding  centuries. 

One  is  often  tempted  to  ask  how  it  is  that  our  nation, 
which  ever  since  the  sixteenth  century  has  been  subjected 
to  so  many  fearful  commotions  from  within  and  from  with- 
out, has  still  retained  within  it  an  indestructible  germ  of  reli- 
gious and  moral  national  culture.  It  has  not  always  been 
found  among  the  higher  ranks  of  society,  which  have  too 
readily  succumbed  to  foreign  influences ;  but  among  the 
lower  classes  it  has  been  constantly  kept  alive  ;  and  neither 
the  devastations  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  nor  the  flood  of 
foreign  affectation  in  the  succeeding  generations  could  in 
any  way  affect  it. 

This  arose  from  the  fact  that  no  hut  was  too  small,  no 
household  too  poor,  to  possess  this  book ;  that  Luther's 
Bible  was  not  only  a  prayer-book  and  manual  of  devotion, 
but  a  family  reading-book  ;  it  was  the  intellectual  world  in 
which  the  young  people  grew  up,  to  which  the  old  folks 
recurred ;  a  man  inscribed  in  it  his  family  history,  the 
memorials  of  his  children  ;  and  the  weary  and  heavy-laden 
found  consolation  in  it  in  times  of  trouble.  The  wars  which 
have  made  a  huge  burial-ground  and  a  smoking  ruin  of  our 
beautiful  land  have  not  been  able  to  exterminate  the  Bible  : 
it  was  the  secure  possession  of  the  pith  and  marrow  of  the 
nation  when  our  learned  men  were  again  writing  Latin,  and 
people  of  culture  were  speaking  French. 

For  the  preservation  of  our  healthy  national  spirit  this 
book  was  more  of  a  panacea  than  anything  else,  and  it  has 
prevented  foreign  cankers  or  fashionable  follies  from  ever 
destroying  it.  It  was  from  the  simple  homes  of  our  country 
pastors,  our  citizens  and  peasants,  to  whom  Luther's  Bible 
was  everything,  that  the  reformers  of  our  national  life  in 
the  eighteenth  century  went  forth,  and  when  they  began  to 
purify  our  language  from  foreign  additions,  they  recurred  to 
the  inexhaustible  philological  treasures  of  this  book ;  they 
agreed  with  Lessing,  that  compared  with  its  riches  our 
language  is  poor,  and  they  found  the  keenest  appreciation 
not  among  the  learned  theologians  of  the  old  stamp,  but  in 
circles  where  Luther's  Bible  had  remained  the  Organon  ever 
since  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was  here  that  the  depth  and 


LUTHER  AND  THE  RADICALS.  65 

inwardness  of  the  German  character  found  satisfaction ;  it 
also  had  an  effect,  though  at  second  hand,  upon  our  Roman 
Catholic  fellow-countrymen  ;  and  the  other  tendency  of  our 
nation  to  the  adoption  and  incorporation  of  foreign  elements 
found  in  this  a  perpetual  and  healthy  counterpoise,  which 
the  Romanic  nations  did  not  possess. 

LUTHER  AND  THE  RADICALS  AT  WITTENBERG. 

While  Luther  was  busy  upon  the  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  the  Edict  of  Worms  was  waiting  in  vain  to  be 
enforced.  He  was  even  then  aiming  a  bolt  at  the  most 
sensitive  part  of  the  ruling  Church  :  what  "  Junker  George  " 
was  doing  under  the  Elector's  protection  looked  like  utter 
defiance  of  the  angry  glances  of  Pope  and  Emperor. 

In  the  midst  of  his  studies  news  arrived  which  summoned 
him  once  more  into  the  arena,  but  this  time  to  face  dif- 
ferent foes  from  those  with  whom  he  had  measured  his 
strength  before. 

Out  of  the  commotion  which  he  had  stirred  up,  another 
school  of  reformers  had  arisen  who  went  much  further  than 
he  did,  for  whom  his  proceedings  were  not  thorough,  nor 
his  programme  decisive  enough.  Their  opinion  was  that 
all  tradition  should  at  once  be  set  aside,  and  everything 
not  expressly  enjoined  in  the  Bible  summarily  abolished. 
Away  then  with  images  of  saints  and  crucifixes  ;  away  with 
the  mass,  priests'  vestments,  confession,  and  the  host ;  away 
with  fasts  and  ceremonies,  and  the  idolatry  of  church  deco- 
rations ! 

At  the  head  of  these  turbulent  reformers  stood  Carlstadt, 
whose  teaching  had  already  betrayed  a  tendency  to  reckless 
innovation,  and  who  now,  instigated  by  the  zealots  of 
Zurich,  and  no  longer  kept  within  bounds  by  Luther,  pro- 
claimed his  doctrines  more  and  more  openly. 

A  certain  consistency  cannot  be  denied  to  these  radicals. 
In  times  of  commotion  it  has  always  been  difficult  to  draw 
the  line  where  disavowal  and  destruction  are  to  end,  and 
toleration  and  reconstruction  to  begin.  But  Luther,  not- 
withstanding the  vehemence  of  his  character,  was  not  the 
man  to  go  to  aimless  extremes,  which  arose  from  a  legislative 
instinct,  one  of  his  peculiar  gifts.  He  well  knew  how  easy 
it  apparently  is  to  strike  a  decisive  blow  at  a  declining 
religion,  but  that  a  reaction  is  inevitable,  which  will  extend 

F 


66  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

much  further  than  the  short-sighted  zealot  imagines,  and  he 
never  forgot  how  much  there  is  that  is  great  and  eternal  in 
the  structure  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  ought 
to  predispose  a  thoughtful  man  to  caution.  He  fully  recog- 
nised the  value  of  adherence  to  the  existing  historical 
institution:  the  least  which  he  asked  for  tradition,  even 
when  it  appeared  to  him  to  have  but  little  meaning,  was 
the  same  liberty  that  he  craved  for  himself  and  his  teaching. 
"There  are  many  things,"  he  said,  "which  an  individual 
may  do  or  leave  undone.  When  they  are  imposed  as  laws 
from  without  I  reject  them,  but  I  equally  reject  their  pro- 
hibition. He  who  likes  to  confess  is  at  liberty  to  do  so. 
To  me  personally,  auricular  confession  has  often  been  a  real 
relief  to  the  conscience,  but  I  do  not  wish  that  the  Church 
should  enjoin  it." 

He  mentions  several  other  such  points  of  indifference 
(dSia0opa) :  whether  the  Lord's  Supper  should  be  received  in 
both  forms,  whether  it  is  right  to  stay  in  a  monastery,  to  have 
pictures  in  churches,  to  observe  fasts, — all  these  appeared  to 
him  to  be  non-essentials  of  the  faith  ;  he  gives  neither  com- 
mand nor  prohibition  about  them,  and  his  views  contain  the 
germ  of  true  liberty  of  conscience  and  mental  freedom. 

From  this  stand-point  he  could  not  but  disapprove  the 
doings  of  the  Wittenberg  iconoclasts.  He  wrote  to  them 
in  December,  1521,*  "Now  this  business  has  been  under- 
taken in  a  harum-scarum  fashion,  with  great  rashness  and 
violence.  I  do  not  like  it  at  all,  and  that  you  may  know  it, 
when  it  comes  to  the  point,  I  will  not  stand  by  you  in  this 
business.  You  have  set  about  it  without  me,  and  so  you 
may  see  how  you  can  get  out  of  it  without  me.  Believe  me, 
I  know  the  devil  well  enough ;  it  is  he  alone  that  has  set 
about  it  to  bring  disgrace  on  the  Word." 

But  such  admonitions  were  vain.  Luther  could  no  longer 
stand  it  in  the  Wartburg ;  in  spite  of  the  ban  of  the  Church 
or  imperial  edict,  he  felt  compelled  to  go  forth,  and  when 
his  Elector  warned  him  of  the  neighbouring  Duke  George 
and  begged  him  not  to  go  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the 
electorate,  Luther  wrote  back,  "  One  thing  I  can  say  for 
myself,  if  things  at  Leipzig  were  as  they  are  at  Wittenberg, 
I  would  still  go  there,  even  if  it  rained  Duke  Georges  for 
nine  days,  and  every  one  of  them  were  nine  times  as  fierce 

*  The  whole  letter  is  in  the  Erlangen  edition. 


LUTHER  AND  THE   RADICALS.  67 

as  he.  Therefore  be  it  written  to  your  Electoral  Highness, 
though  your  Electoral  Highness  knows  it  very  well,  that  I 
go  to  Wittenberg  under  much  higher  protection  than  that  of 
the  Elector.  I  therefore  have  no  intention  of  asking  pro- 
tection of  your  Electoral  Highness  ;  no  sword  will  or  can 
afford  this  cause  help  or  counsel ;  God  alone  can  prosper  it 
without  human  aid  or  care.  He  therefore  who  has  the 
most  faith  will  be  the  most  protected  by  it.  Now  as  I  per- 
ceive that  your  Electoral  Highness  is  still  very  weak  in 
faith,  I  cannot  by  any  means  regard  your  Electoral  High- 
ness as  the  man  who  can  protect  or  save  me." 

On  the  3rd  of  March,  1522,  he  escaped  from  his  asylum, 
and  with  a  sword  by  his  side,  and  in  Junker  George's 
doublet,  he  arrived  at  Wittenberg,  determined  valiantly  to 
oppose  the  disturbers  of  the  peace. 

For  eight  consecutive  days  he  preached  against  Carlstadt 
and  the  fanatics  of  Zwickau,  and  his  eight  sermons  contain 
a  most  important  memorial  of  the  genuine  spirit  of  Luther. 
He  proceeded  with  wonderful  tact ;  he  did  not  mention  any 
of  his  opponents  by  name  ;  not  an  abusive  word  escaped 
him ;  his  language  was  most  skilfully  adapted  to  convert 
misguided  followers  and  to  restrain  excess  of  zeal. 

These  sermons  contain  golden  words.  Among  other 
things  he  says,  "  We  must  have  charity,  and  from  charity 
do  for  one  another  what  God  has  done  for  us  by  faith ; 
without  charity  faith  is  nothing.  Now,  dear  friends,  on 
this  point  you  have  failed  almost  entirely :  I  cannot  trace  a 
spark  of  charity  in  any  one  of  you.  I  observe  that  you 
know  very  well  how  to  talk  about  the  doctrine  that  is 
preached  to  you,  which  is  no  marvel, — an  ass  may  almost 
be  taught  to  sing, — but  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  in  ser- 
mons or  in  words,  but  in  deeds  and  in  power.  Finally,  we 
must  have  patience.  In  this  life  every  one  must  not  do 
what  he  has  a  right  to  do,  but  must  forego  his  rights  and 
consider  what  is  useful  and  advantageous  to  his  brother. 
Do  not  make  a  '  must  be '  out  of  a  '  may  be,'  as  you  have 
now  been  doing,  that  you  may  not  have  to  answer  for  those 
whom  you  have  misled  by  your  uncharitable  liberty." 

Against  any  compulsion  in  religious  matters  he  speaks 
most  decidedly : — 

"  The  Word  created  heaven  and  earth  and  all  things  ; 
the  same  Word  must  also  create  now,  and  not  we  poor 
sinners.  Summa  summarum,  I  will  preach  it,  I  will  talk  of 


68  THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY. 

it,  I  will  write  about  it,  but  I  will  not  use  force  or  com- 
pulsion with  any  one ;  for  faith  must  be  of  free  will,  and 
unconstrained,  and  must  be  accepted  without  compulsion. 
To  marry,  to  do  away  with  images,  to  become  monks  or 
nuns,  for  monks  and  nuns  to  leave  their  convents,  to  eat 
meat  on  Friday,  or  not  to  eat  it,  and  other  like  things, — all 
these  things  are  open  questions,  and  should  not  be  for- 
bidden by  any  man  ;  if  they  are  forbidden  it  is  wrong.  If 
thou  canst  do  these  things  without  burdening  thy  con- 
science, continue  to  do  them,  but  if  not,  forbear,  lest  a 
heavier  burden  come  upon  thee."  "  If  we  reject  every- 
thing that  is  abused,  we  shall  have  to  play  a  strange  game. 
There  are  people  who  worship  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  : 
shall  we  therefore  fall  to  and  cast  the  stars  from  heaven, 
and  hurl  the  sun  and  moon  from  their  places  ?  We  may  as 
well  leave  it  alone.  Wine  and  women  bring  many  to  grief, 
make  fools  and  madmen  of  them  :  shall  we  therefore  pour 
away  all  the  wine,  and  put  the  women  to  death  ?  Ah,  if  we 
want  to  be  rid  of  our  worst  enemy,  who  does  us  more  harm 
than  any  one  else,  we  must  get  rid  of  and  slay  ourselves, 
for  we  have  no  worse  enemy  than  our  own  hearts." 

And  these  sensible  words  were  not  spoken  to  the  air ; 
the  leaders,  indeed,  were  not  converted,  but  their  followers 
fell  off,  and  peace  was  restored. 

THE  LUTHERAN  CAUSE  BEFORE  THE  IMPERIAL  CHAMBER 
AND  THE  DlET  OF  NUREMBERG,  1521-23. 

It  would  have  been  all  the  same  for  Germany  if  the  Edict 
of  Worms  had  not  been  pronounced,  for  nothing  like  the 
execution  of  it  worth  mentioning  occurred  anywhere.  In 
some  cases  this  arose  from  sympathy  with  the  new  doctrines  ; 
in  others,  from  impotence,  and  a  feeling  that  more  active 
interference  would  only  increase  the  evil. 

Thus  the  Elector  of  Mayence,  the  Primate  of  Germany, 
would  not  allow  the  order  of  Minorites  even  to  preach 
against  Luther,  because  he  was  convinced  that  it  would  only 
feed  the  flame  of  heresy. 

Luther's  books,  as  well  as  his  followers,  were  to  have 
been  annihilated  with  fire  or  sword ;  but,  instead  of  this, 
they  were  spread  far  and  wide.  All  the  literature  of  the 
period,  with  very  little  exception,  takes  the  Lutheran  side. 
Finally,  the  outlaw  ventured  out  of  his  hiding-place  into  the 


THE  IMPERIAL   CHAMBER.  69 

world  again ;  and  we  do  not  find  that  it  was  ever  suggested 
to  the  Elector  to  recapture  and  punish  him. 

The  secret  cause  of  that  suspicious  manoeuvre  which  had 
been  found  necessary  to  obtain  the  Edict  of  Worms  at  all — 
a  distrust  of  the  sentiments  of  the  influential  classes — now 
received  a  striking  confirmation. 

The  new  Imperial  Chamber,  in  which  the  German  States 
ruled  in  place  of  the  absent  Emperor,  only  represented  the 
prevailing  sentiments  of  the  people,  by  not  only  not  perse- 
cuting Luther,  but  by  increasingly  adopting  his  cause,  and 
by  in  fact,  though  not  in  words,  revoking  the  edict  of  1521. 

The  new  pope,  Adrian  VI.  (January,  1522 — September, 
1523),  regarded  the  abuses  in  the  Church  with  the  eye  of  a 
strictly  moral  monk  ;  yet,  as  an  orthodox  Dominican,  he 
abhorred  Luther's  proceedings,  and  sent  a  Nuncio  to  Ger- 
many to  demand,  as  he  certainly  was  entitled  to  do,  the 
execution  of  the  ban  pronounced  at  Worms.  But  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Imperial  Chamber  declined  to  comply,  because 
they  did  not  wish  it  to  appear  "  as  if  they  would  put  down 
evangelical  truth  by  tyranny,  and  maintain  unchristian 
abuses,  which  would  only  result  in  resistance  to  the  rulers, 
insurrection,  and  defection."  They  reminded  the  Pope  ol" 
the  ancient  concordats  with  Germany,  so  often  infringed, 
and  demanded,  within  the  course  of  a  year,  the  convocation 
of  an  open  council,  in  which  laymen  should  have  seats  and 
a  voice,  and  the  creed  should  be  an  open  question.  The 
document  drawn  up  on  this  subject  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable  of  the  period.*  This  proposal  to  the  Nuncio 
shows  what  a  luxurious  harvest  had  sprung  up  from  the 
papal  policy  since  the  Councils  of  Pisa,  Costnitz,  and  Basle. 
It  was  the  voice  of  the  nation,  not  merely  of  a  party. 

In  the  first  answer  of  the  Imperial  Chamber  it  is  stated 
in  a  decided  tone  why  neither  the  ban  of  the  Church  nor 
the  imperial  edict  had  been  executed,  nor  was  likely  to  be 
so.  The  great  majority  of  the  people  were  convinced  that 
the  Roman  Curia,  by  certain  abuses,  grievously  injured  the 
German  nation ;  and  disturbances  and  civil  war  had  been 
the  result  whenever  the  attempt  had  been  made  to  defend 
these  abuses  by  force. 

The  rejoinder  of  the  Papal  Legate  was  followed  by  the 
hundred  Gravamina.  A  hundred  was  a  round  number.  It 

*  Goldast. 


70  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

is  expressly  stated  at  the  end  that  more  could  have  been 
adduced,  and  that  it  was  only  for  the  sake  of  conciseness 
that  they  had  limited  themselves  to  these,  with  the  expecta- 
tion that  when  those  specified  were  done  away,  some  of  the 
others  would  go  with  them. 

The  subjects  of  complaint  were  the  following  : — Dispensa- 
tions, indulgences,  and  the  sale  of  them  ;  legal  abuses, 
delegates,  and  commissioners  ;  the  administration  of  offices 
from  Rome ;  the  reforms,  commendams,  incorporations, 
annats,  abuse  of  bans  and  interdicts  ;  the  excessive  number 
of  festivals,  illegal  acquisition  of  property,  arbitrary  grants 
of  benefices,  pilgrimages,  unreasonable  demands  of  money, 
new  tithes  ;  the  decision  of  secular  questions,  especially  the 
disputes  about  marriage,  by  ecclesiastical  courts ;  "  the 
toleration  of  illicit  cohabitation,  and  usury  for  the  sake  of 
gain  ; "  unreasonable  rates  of  interest  and  wages  ;  the  with- 
holding of  the  sacraments,  the  unclerical  conduct  of  the 
clergy,  legacy  hunting,  the  mendicant  orders,  &c. 

They  conclude  with  a  threat  that  in  case  no  attention  is 
paid  to  these  complaints,  they  will  take  the  matter  into  their 
own  hands  :  "  If  these  things  are  not  speedily  abolished, 
which,  however,  the  temporal  powers  do  not  expect,  they 
will  not  conceal  from  your  Holiness  that  they  can  no  longer 
submit  to  such  intolerable  and  pernicious  grievances,  but 
will  be  under  the  necessity  of  themselves  finding  some  other 
ways  and  means  of  putting  an  end  to,  and  being  relieved 
from,  such  impositions  and  oppressions  from  the  clergy." 

In  1521  the  Hapsburg  policy  had  come  to  an  agreement 
with  the  Pope  at  Worms  against  Luther.  Two  years  later, 
at  Nuremberg,  the  nation  declared  for  the  unconditional 
accomplishment  of  reform  of  the  faith  and  of  the  Church. 

The  Papal  Legate  had  to  renounce  all  idea  of  accomplish- 
ing anything  with  this  Diet  by  negotiation,  although  the 
Emperor's  representative,  Ferdinand,  was  on  his  side.  The 
voices  of  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  states,  of  the  moderate 
and  extreme  parties,  were  not,  indeed,  unanimous  upon  par- 
ticular questions ;  but,  on  the  whole,  the  Diet  presented  a 
compact  phalanx  to  withstand  Rome ;  and  that  it  was  so 
was  rendered  quite  evident  by  the  fact  that  the  final  reso- 
lution about  preaching  was  only  passed  by  way  of  com- 
promise. 

It  was  decided  that  nothing  should  be  preached  but 
verum  purum,  sincerum  et  sanctum  evangelium,  and  indeed 


THE   DIET  OF  NUREMBERG.  71 

pie  mansuete  Christiane,  in  accordance  with  the  teaching 
and  interpretations  of  well-known  works  approved  by  the 
Church.  The  decree  was  sufficiently  strong  against  Rome, 
and  sufficiently  liberal  for  the  party  of  the  new  tendencies  ; 
it  was  calculated  to  satisfy  them,  yet  their  opponents  could 
not  reject  it. 

The  Edict  of  Worms  was  thereby  reversed;  the  con- 
demnation of  Luther  and  his  followers  retracted ;  the  sword 
of  the  secular  power  which  had  been  hanging  over  him  was 
withdrawn,  and  free  scope  given  to  his  propaganda.  This 
propaganda  would  have  made  much  more  rapid  progress 
than  it  did  make  if  obstacles  had  not  presented  themselves, 
which  were  so  much  the  more  dangerous  because  closely 
connected  with  the  moving  causes  of  the  Reformation. 
Revolution  attached  itself  to  the  wheels  of  the  car  of 
Reform,  and  effectually  hindered  its  progress. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Reform  and  Revolution. — The  Nobles  of  the  Empire. — Ulrich  von 
Hutten,  1488-1523.* — Franz  von  Sickingen,  the  Feud  of  1522, 
and  the  Catastrophe  of  1523. — Reaction  upon  the  Reformation. — 
Activity  of  the  Curia. — Adrian  VI.,  January,  1522,  to  September, 
1523.  —  Clement  VII.,  September,  1534.  —  The  Convention  of 
Ratisbon,  July,  1524. 

ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN,*  1488-1523. 

WHAT  Luther  was  for  the  religious,  Hutten  was  for  the 
Humanistic  aspect  of  the  opposition  of  the  sixteenth 
century, — the  man  of  action  who  took  the  initiative  in  con- 
trast to  the  many  congenial  spirits  whose  hearts  were  full  of 
sympathy,  but  who  were  not  men  of  independent  enterprise. 
But  while  Luther  was  the  advocate  of  reform,  Hutten  was 
the  leader  of  political  and  social  revolution ;  while  Luther 
gives  the  impression  of  ripe  experience  and  maturity,  Hut- 
ten  represents  the  impetuosity  and  fire  of  passionate  youth, 
of  one  who  had  not  come  out  of  solitary  conflicts  in  a 
convent,  but  who  had  early  taken  part  in  the  struggles  of 
the  age  in  the  world's  arena. 

Theirs  are,  indeed,  two  remarkable  careers,  for  a  long 
time  running  parallel  without  coming  into  contact :  the  son 
of  the  Thuringian  miner,  who,  from  the  meanest  circum- 
stances, rises  to  be  the  leader  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
deeply  agitated  nation,  and  has  a  voice  amongst  rulers  on 
questions  affecting  their  fate ;  and  the  scion  of  a  most 
ancient  race  of  nobles,  who  descends  from  his  father's  castle, 
exchanges  the  sword  of  chivalry  for  the  citizen's  pen,  and 
after  passing  through  strange  vicissitudes,  is  engulfed  in  the 
stream  of  the  German  revolution. 

The  German  nobles  hated  the  new  order  of  things  in  all 
its  aspects;  not  so  much  the  Reformation  as  that  which 

•  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  von  D.  Strauss. 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN.  73 

gave  it  so  great  an  impetus — the  increasing  power  of  the 
reigning  princes,  the  growing  prosperity  of  the  cities,  the 
preponderating  influence  of  money  and  trade.  All  this  was 
utterly  distasteful  to  the  old  free  hereditary  proprietors  of 
the  soil.  The  same  need  which  made  them  waylay  tra- 
vellers and  commit  highway  robberies  made  them  hate  the 
modern  system  of  administration  with  a  deadly  hatred,  for 
it  brought  peace,  and  aimed  at  extinguishing  feuds.  Every- 
thing that  was  regarded  as  intolerable  by  this  modern  system 
involved  something  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  chivalry. 
It  was  a  misfortune  for  Germany  that  there  was  no  natural 
and  healthy  position  for  the  nobles  in  the  State,  but  the 
nobles  were  greatly  mistaken  in  imagining  that  they  could 
regain  their  supremacy  by  blindly  struggling  against  the  new 
order  of  things — it  could  but  hasten  their  downfall.  The 
modern  system  made  its  way  in  the  world,  and  crushed 
whatever  came  in  its  way.  . 

Ulrich  von  Hutten  did  not  belong  to  the  nobles  of  this 
sort.  It  was  his  conviction  that  the  order  of  the  nobility, 
as  then  constituted,  was  no  longer  capable  of  achieving 
anything — that  it  must  learn  the  use  of  modern  weapons. 
He  himself  tried  to  gain  a  position  in  the  world  by  his  pen 
and  his  talents  rather  than  by  his  sword ;  and  he  wished 
for  his  order  to  secure  a  place  at  the  head  of  the  new  ideas. 
In  alliance  with  the  citizens  and  the  peasantry  embracing 
the  project  of  national  and  religious  reform,  it  should  lead 
the  struggle  which  aimed  to  free  the  nation  from  the  oppres- 
sion of  temporal  and  ecclesiastical  rulers,  whether  German 
or  foreign. 

The  embitterment  which  we  find  among  the  other  imperial 
nobles  had,  in  his  case,  cleared  off  into  a  certain  far-seeing 
conception  of  the  position  of  affairs  in  his  country.  Sorrow 
for  the  melancholy  fate  of  his  order  did  not  induce  in  his 
mind  a  blind  hatred  of  the  new  powers,  but  a  deeper  in- 
sight into  its  causes. 

His  personal  position  almost  led  him  to  take  these  views. 
The  glorious  old  race  of  the  Huttens  was  dispersed,  sepa- 
rated, and  their  property  was  fallen  into  confusion.  They 
had  become  poor,  and  their  traditions  and  claims  to  con- 
sideration were  in  curious  contrast  to  their  possessions  and 
actual  importance. 

Ulrich  von  Hutten  was  born  on  the  2ist  of  April,  1488, 
at  the  Castle  of  Stackelburg.  As  the  boy  grew  up,  either 


74  THE   REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

some  pious  vow  or  an  idea  that  he  was  wanting  in  stamina, 
occasioned  by  his  delicate  appearance,  caused  his  father  to 
destine  him  for  the  Church.  This  was  often  the  vocation 
of  younger  sons,  though  not  of  the  first-born.  It  was  an  in- 
tervention of  fate  in  young  Hutten's  life,  and  was  favourable 
to  his  early  inclination  to  strike  out  a  new  career  for  him- 
self. He  went  as  a  pupil  to  the  monastery  of  Fulda — not 
to  become  a  monk,  but  only  to  have  the  benefit  of  the 
teaching  of  the  brothers  as  a  layman.  He  resolutely  with- 
stood all  attempts  to  induce  him  to  enter  the  order. 

He  learnt  many  things  there  to  which  he  would  otherwise 
have  long  remained  a  stranger,  and  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  solid  classical  culture  in  which  he  early  distinguished 
himself.  But  this  was  all  that  attached  him  to  the  monastic 
walls  of  Fulda. 

When  he  gladly  turned  his  back  upon  the  profession  of 
arms,  the  foundation  was  laid  of  an  aspiring  energy  which 
could  find  no  satisfaction  amongst  troopers  and  dogs, 
plunder  and  the  chase.  Desiring  to  pursue  a  course  which 
he  could  not  take  in  his  father's  castle,  he  renounced  the 
traditions  of  his  race ;  but  he  had  no  intention  of  passing 
his  life  in  a  monastic  cell.  He  wanted  to  go  out  into  the 
world,  to  visit  the  universities  where  the  modern  Humanistic 
tendencies  were  most  eagerly  fostered ;  but  his  father  did 
not  approve.  He  was  a  noble  of  the  old  school,  and  thought 
it  a  disgrace  that  a  son  of  his  house  should  set  his  heart 
upon  such  idle  trifling,  while  he  looked  upon  the  ecclesias- 
tical vocation  as  a  solid  maintenance — nothing  more  nor 
less. 

The  monks,  discerning  his  talents,  tried  by  intimidation 
to  secure  him  for  their  order ;  the  friends  he  had  made  out- 
side the  convent  advised  him  against  entering  it.  Of  this 
his  father  knew  nothing ;  and  so  Hutten,  then  a  youth  of 
sixteen  or  seventeen,  resolved  on  flight. 

About  1504  or  1505  he  left  Fulda,  and  went  forth  home- 
less and  penniless  into  the  wide  world.  About  the  same 
time  Luther  was  quitting  the  world  and  entering  a  monas- 
tery in  order  to  clear  up  his  doubts.  No  doubts  had  ever 
assailed  Hutten.  What  he  wanted  was  to  be  up  and  doing  ; 
to  have  free  scope  for  his  energies ;  and  nowhere  could  he 
find  so  little  as  in  a  monastery. 

But  evil  days  were  in  store  for  the  fugitive. 

We  have  no  precise  knowledge  of  the  places  he  visited  • 


ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN.  75 

he  went  through  various  countries  as  a  wandering  student. 
We  find  him  at  Cologne,  Erfurt,  Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 
Greifswald,  Wittenberg,  Olmiitz,  and  Vienna  ;  and  when 
we  learn  anything  of  his  circumstances,  they  are  of  the  most 
wretched  kind.  In  many  places  he  was  entered  as  Clericus 
Fuldensis,  perhaps  because,  in  this  character,  he  could  live 
more  simply,  and  more  easily  find  bare  subsistence,  than  if 
he  gave  himself  out  as  a  distinguished  noble.  Youth  did 
not  present  itself  to  him  under  a  very  cheerful  aspect.  In- 
deed, to  him,  as  •well  as  to  Luther,  it  was  a  hard  and 
joyless  period.  Both  the  great  spirits  of  the  age  had  to  be 
prepared  by  suffering  for  the  warfare  that  awaited  them. 
He  met  with  every  disaster  that  can  befall  a  man — hunger, 
nakedness,  sickness,  and  every  kind  of  deprivation ;  false 
friends  who  took  him  up,  and  then  cast  him  off;  capture  by 
robbers,  who  compelled  him  to  drag  himself,  ill  and  half 
naked,  from  one  place  to  another.  Thus,  after  his  flight 
from  Fulda,  his  fate  was  not  unlike  that  of  knights-errant 
of  that  age ;  but  with  this  difference — that  while  they  were 
often  left  lying  by  the  wayside  to  come  to  an  ignominious 
end,  he  always  rose  up  again  with  fresh  spirit  and  courage. 

It  was  his  astonishing  zeal  for  learning  that  sustained  him. 
Amidst  all  the  depressing  influences  of  his  outward  life,  his 
intellectual  powers  never  failed  him;  and,  with  the  in- 
destructible enthusiasm  of  his  youthful  spirit,  he  more 
nearly  approached  the  Humanistic  ideal  than  any  other 
man  of  his  time. 

The  ancient  classics  incited  him  to  independence  and 
originality.  He  had  a  keen  and  superior  mind,  with  abun- 
dant natural  creative  talent,  and  he  was  perfect  master  of 
the  elegant  grace  of  the  classic  style.  That  which  cost 
others  great  labour  to  produce,  flowed  from  his  lips  and  pen 
with  perfect  ease.  His  was  a  poetic  nature,  and  we  can  but 
regret  that  he  hampered  himself  with  a  foreign  tongue  and 
foreign  forms.  But  it  was  then  the  object  of  the  highest 
ambition  to  be  an  accomplished  Latin  poet — the  mother- 
tongue  was  not  as  yet  held  in  honour. 

When  he  entered  his  twentieth  year  he  knew  Germany 
well.  He  had  made  the  round  of  the  universities  at  the 
great  cities,  and  was  attracted  to  Italy,  impelled  by  the 
Humanist  home-sickness  of  the  pupil  of  antiquity,  and  en- 
thusiasm for  the  birthplace  of  the  culture  of  the  Renaissance. 
This  was  at  the  time  of  the  Venetian  war,  when  Italy  was 


76  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

less  attractive  than  ever  to  such  dilettante  travellers.  Hut- 
ten  went  into  the  tumult  of  war,  entered  the  imperial  army 
at  Pavia,  thus  returning  to  his  calling  as  a  knight ;  and 
he  did  his  duty  valiantly,  though  without  any  mental  satis- 
faction. He  wrote  epigrams  and  satires  in  camp,  in  elegant 
Latin  verse.  What  is  noteworthy  is,  that  he  begins  to  break 
away  from  the  rigid  forms  of  ancient  mythology  ;  to  cast  off 
the  tinsel  of  a  foreign  garb,  and  to  take  a  keen  interest  in  the 
present.  He  treats  of  the  course  of  the  war  and  the  Italian 
policy,  and  lashes  the  shameless  traffic  in  indulgences  and 
bulls  by  Pope  Julius  II.  This  constitutes  an  essential  dif- 
ference between  him  and  the  rest  of  the  Humanistic  school, 
who  kept  their  readers  in  the  misty  and  colourless  region  of 
Mars,  Ceres,  and  the  Muses,  as  in  a  barren  waste.  He  ac- 
quired fame  even  in  Italy ;  the  charming  elegance  and  ex- 
traordinary finish  of  his  verses  were  much  admired.  No 
one  would  have  given  a  heavy  German  barbarian  credit 
for  so  much  skill. 

This  sort  of  light  literature  was  much  encouraged  in  Italy. 
Hutten  made  a  name  for  himself — it  was  his  first  triumph 
after  his  dreary  wanderings ;  it  was  to  his  own  pen  and  his 
own  talent  that  he  owed  it,  and  he  might  well  be  proud  of 
it.  But  this  by  no  means  satisfied  him  ;  he  was  pursued  by 
the  feeling  of  an  inward  void,  which  could  not  be  filled  by 
poetic  fame.  He  returned  to  Germany.  At  the  paternal 
castle  they  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  him — to  them  he 
was  a  "nameless  nobody;"  but  at  the  court  of  Mayence 
he  found  an  honourable  reception  as  a  talented  poet  and 
Latin  scholar.  Hutten,  like  others  of  the  Humanistic  school, 
had  an  idea  of  making  a  career  for  himself  at  the  courts  of 
princely  patrons  of  arts  and  in  the  abodes  of  wealth.  Im- 
pelled by  necessity,  he  did  occasionally  follow  this  course, 
but  without  any  inward  satisfaction. 

While  seeking  health  at  Ems,  news  reached  him  of  a 
fearful  event  which  had  occurred  in  the  family  (1515). 
Duke  Ulrich  of  Wiirtemberg,  already  at  variance  with  his 
subjects  and  neighbours,  was  also  involved  in  a  personal 
quarrel,  which  now  caused  a  sad  catastrophe.  He  murdered 
Hans' von  Hutten  like  a  bandit  in  a  wood.  The  deed  was 
quite  in  accordance  with  his  wild  and  lawless  character ; 
and  it  was  his  own  conduct  which  had  brought  the  difficulties 
upon  him  which  now  hedged  him  in  on  every  side.  The 
Hutten  family  was  powerful  enough  to  unite  the  neighbouring 


ULRICH  VON   HUTTEN.  77 

families  to  execute  vengeance  on  the  Duke,  and  to  incite 
the  Emperor  and  the  empire  to  take  up  its  cause. 

Ulrich  von  Hutten  wrote  a  number  of  addresses  on  the 
occasion,  which  produced  a  great  impression.  These  philip- 
pics against  Duke  Ulrich  are  entirely  in  the  style  of  the 
Humanistic  school.  They  are  elegant  compositions,  evidently 
formed  upon  the  models  of  Cicero  and  Demosthenes,  and 
you  feel  that  the  author's  main  object  is  to  show  how  suc- 
cessfully a  German  can  write  in  this  style.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  beneath  these  artistic  periods  there  is  the  glowing 
enthusiasm  of  a  soul  pining  for  freedom,  a  deep  pathos  and 
consuming  passion.  It  was  felt  that  the  writer  was  no 
common  man,  that  he  took  the  Duke  for  his  subject — because 
a  subject  he  must  have — that  he  was  not  merely  a  poet,  a 
Humanist  of  the  common  stamp,  but  an  orator  and  an 
agitator. 

These  addresses  greatly  increased  his  fame ;  they  made 
the  war  against  Duke  Ulrich  popular;  every  class  of  per- 
sons had  a  grievance,  and  for  a  long  time  the  Duke's  cause 
was  lost.  Then  this  eloquence,  this  wonderful  art  of  writing 
impressively  on  the  topics  of  the  day  in  antique  forms  and 
fine  sonorous  periods, — it  was  something  quite  novel. 

After  this  feud  we  again  find  Hutten  in  Italy.  While  his 
father  was  hoping  that  he  would  at  length  diligently  study 
the  law,  he  was  completing  his  classical  studies  ;  and,  in- 
stead of  bringing  with  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  on 
the  1 2th  of  July,  1 5 1 7,  he  received  from  the  Emperor  Max  at 
Augsburg,  in  presence  of  the  whole  court,  the  laurel  crown 
as  the  greatest  poet  of  Germany.  We  have  testimony  from 
Italy,  England,  and  France,  with  what  envy  and  admiration 
the  poet  was  regarded. 

Having  reached  this  lofty  height,  one  aspect  of  his  life 
closes ;  he  was  now  to  enter  upon  a  new  career.  During 
his  residence  in  Italy  the  contest  between  Reuchlin  and  the 
Dominicans  had  broken  out,  in  which  the  German  Humanists 
first  appear  in  compact  phalanx.  He  received  the  first  series 
of  the  Epistultz  Obscuroriim  Virorum  at  Bologna  in  Septem- 
ber, 1516.  They  pleased  him  greatly,  for  he  found  a  con- 
genial spirit  in  them.  He  had  not  contributed  to  the  first 
series,  but  the  second  is  enriched  by  him.*  He  took  a  keen 

*  If,  as  is  supposed,  the  letters  dated  from  Rome  are  his,  they  indi- 
cate that  he  was  less  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  light  weapons  of  deri- 
sive satire  than  in  wielding  the  heavy  guns  of  passionate  invective. 


78  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

interest  in  all  Humanist  affairs,  was  in  close  intimacy  with 
Reuchlin,  and  defended  him  against  the  Grand  Inquisitor 
and  monastic  scholasticism.  But  he  was  still  a  stranger  to 
all  the  other  great  movements  of  the  age.  When  Luther 
first  appeared  on  the  stage  of  the  world,  and  affixed  his 
ninety-five  Theses  to  the  church  door  at  Wittenberg  ;  when 
an  agitation  was  arising,  compared  with  which  the  affair  with 
the  men  of  Cologne  was  a  harmless  jest,  Hutten  was  simply 
conscious  of  being  the  crowned  Latin  poet  ;  and  when 
Tetzel  and  Eck  attacked  Luther,  he  wrote  a  letter  full  of 
malicious  pleasure  that  the  monks  should  be  tearing  each 
other's  hair.  He  was  still  the  distinguished  knight,  doubly 
ennobled  by  his  talents  and  acquirements.  One  man  in  a 
crowd  was  to  him  the  same  as  another,  and  their  disputes 
were  but  a  subject  for  his  passing  derision.  He  was  alto- 
gether a  stranger  to  Christianity  :  to  the  Humanists,  classic 
culture  was  religion. 

When  Luther  had  the  memorable  dispute  with  Cajetan  in 
1518,  Hutten  was  also  at  Augsburg  under  the  care  of  a 
physician  ;  but  he  neither  sought  out  Luther  nor  took  any 
account  of  the  fact  that  he  was  there. 

But  it  was  not  in  vain  that  Hutten  had  been  in  Italy ; 
not  the  Humanist  only,  but  the  patriot  also  had  learnt 
lessons  there.  He  had  felt  with  burning  shame  the  ignominy 
of  the  foreign  Italian  yoke,  the  decline  of  the  German 
empire.  The  contempt  of  the  foreigner  for  the  nation  that 
had  once  ruled  the  world  cut  him  to  the  heart.  Even  in 
the  Venetian  war  he  had  made  a  glowing  appeal  to  the 
Emperor  Max  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  nation-, 
to  inaugurate  a  regeneration  of  this  great  people,  which  would 
make  it  once  more  united  and  powerful.  Max  listened  to 
appeals  of  this  sort  with  a  gracious  smile,  but  he  was  too  old, 
and  his  heart  too  cold  to  be  kindled  by  them.  Charles  V.,  a 
young  emperor,  with  splendid  patrimonial  power,  seemed  to 
be  the  man  to  remodel  the  world.  The  old  imperial  re- 
miniscences, the  glory  of  the  German  name,  urged  Hutten 
to  make  a  similar  appeal  to  him ;  but  he  was  still  less  dis- 
posed than  Max  to  be  influenced  by  the  enthusiastic  dreams 
of  youth.  Meanwhile,  the  power  of  the  reform  movement 
was  increasing;  the  tide  was  rising  higher  and  higher. 

Such  men  as  Crotus  Rubianus  excelled  him  in  the  formei,  but  it  did 
not  go  so  deep,  as  the  subsequent  falling  off  of  this  great  satirist  proves. 


ULRICH   VON   HUTTEN.  79 

From  Luther's  writings  Hutten  derived  a  new  idea  of  the 
man  and  his  cause,  and  learned  that  a  German  could  move 
men's  hearts  in  his  own  tongue,  that  its  sonorous  tones 
produced  an  effect  far  greater  than  laboured  imitations  of 
the  scholars  of  antiquity,  and  that  a  great  mind  would  not 
degrade  itself  by  following  such  an  example. 

It  was  plain  that  this  simple  monk  was  beginning  to  move 
the  masses,  to  set  the  nation  in  a  novel  ferment,  and  among 
the  people  the  influence  of  the  learned  had  been  very 
moderate.  A  new  spirit  was  stirring,  which,  though  not  at 
enmity  with  that  of  the  Humanists,  took  quite  another  form. 
Upon  no  one  did  all  this  make  a  deeper  impression  than 
upon  Hutten.  With  all  his  poetic  fame,  he  bowed  down  before 
this  despised  monk,  who  had  dared  to  do  what  no  one  else 
had  done,  and  who  could  handle  his  own  language  so  dex- 
terously. He  had  never  been  able  to  think  without  shame 
that  a  German  emperor  should  humble  himself  before  the 
Roman  Curia,  and  here  was  a  monk  burning  the  papal  bull. 
He  was  quite  excited  by  the  daring  deed ;  he  saw  that  all 
his  poetic  fame,  all  his  poems  and  fine  speeches  were 
nothing  in  comparison  with  what  had  been  accomplished  by 
the  Wittenberg  monk,  and  an  entire  change  took  place  in 
him.  He  gave  up  the  office  of  poet-laureate,  renounced  the 
pride  of  his  Latin  muse,  and  began  to  write  German.  His 
opposition  to  the  Church  of  Rome  had  begun  early.  He 
had  said  cutting  things  of  Rome  in  his  verses  written  in 
Italy. 

The  day  before  he  set  out  on  his  return  to  Germany  the 
second  time,  he  made  acquaintance  with  a  rare  work  by 
Laurentius  Valla,  an  enlightened  Italian  patriot,  an  eminent 
statesman,  and  the  accomplished  translator  of  many  of  the 
Greek  classics.  It  was  the  work  on  the  "  Gift  of  Constan- 
tine  "  (De  Donations  Constantini).  Valla  wrote  at  a  time 
when  educated  men  were  already  alienated  from  the 
Church;  but  few  had  the  courage  resolutely  to  make  re- 
searches into  her  pious  frauds ;  and  therefore  a  number  of 
ecclesiastical  archives,  relating  to  the  reputed  gift  of  the 
States  of  the  Church  by  Constantine,  were  held  to  be  indis- 
putably genuine  documents.  It  was  a  significant  event  when 
a  distinguished  author  ventured  for  the  first  time  to  attack 
the  Pope's  temporal  power.  Hutten  adapted  this  work  for 
Germany,  endeavoured  to  circulate  it,  and  to  give  it  fresh 
effect  against  Rome — a  pur<¥>se  the  animosity  of  which  was 


80  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

not  lessened  by  the  fact  that  he  dedicated  the  book  to 
LeoX. 

He  now  attained  to  a  comprehension  of  what  Luther  was, 
and  what  he  was  aiming  at;  and  the  change  took  place 
which  converted  Hutten  to  his  own  nation.  He  had  hitherto 
only  exercised  himself  in  the  field  for  which  his  tastes  and 
talents  especially  fitted  him.  He  now  no  longer  wrote 
satirical  dialogues,  but  fierce  invectives,  in  which  he  dis- 
charged whole  quivers  full  of  arrows.  He  no  longer  addressed 
himself  in  a  foreign  tongue  to  the  cultivated  classes,  who 
had  hitherto  to  a  certain  extent  admitted  and  deplored  the 
evils  of  the  times  among  themselves  ;  he  addressed  the 
nation,  the  nobles,  the  knights,  the  cities,  the  peasantry, 
every  one  who  grumbled  at  the  old  order  of  things,  and  was 
disposed  at  any  cost  to  put  an  end  to  it. 

He  prepared  to  join  the  new  movement,  which,  however, 
he  regarded  only  as  a  means  to  an  end  ;  for  he  was  a 
stranger  to  the  theological  ideas  of  the  Reformation.  It 
served  as  a  lever  for  political  and  social  aims  which  went 
far  beyond  those  of  Luther.  Hutten  advocates  taking  the 
law  into  their  own  hands,  while  Luther  maintains  that  "  re- 
bellion will  do  no  good."  But  it  was  not  only  that  Luther 
repudiated  these  means  of  obtaining  political  reform  ;  he 
was  averse  to  the  end,  for  he  was  convinced  that  the  two 
objects  are  essentially  distinct,  and  cannot  be  forcibly  joined 
together.  He  often  said  to  the  hot-headed  politicians, 
"You  will  not  attain  your  own  object,  and  you  will  ruin 
mine.  Such  things  cannot  be  taken  in  hand  at  the  same 
time.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  accomplish  the  religious 
revolution.  By  such  a  rebellion  as  you  want  to  excite,  you 
may  attain  great  results  for  the  moment,  but  they  will  not 
be  lasting." 

It  was  on  men's  minds  and  consciences  that  Luther 
wished  to  work  ;  Hutten  appealed  to  their  passions.  Luther 
was  constantly  repeating,  "  I  will  talk,  write,  and  preach 
about  it;"  but  anything  that  went  beyond  that  appeared  to 
him  to  be  mischievous. 

After  1520  Hutten  and  Luther  were  seemingly  pursuing 
the  same  course ;  but  it  was  only  seemingly,  for  there 
was  a  contrast  between  them  which  could  not  long  be 
concealed. 

Thus  it  was  that  Hutten  was  led  into  an  arena  from  which 
he  had  hitherto  kept  aloof,  but  in  which  he  seemed  born  to 


FRANZ  VON   SICKINGEN.  8 1 

rule  ;  for  he  possessed  rare  gifts  as  a  popular  agitator,  and, 
by  his  genuine  eloquence,  knew  how  to  move  men's  minds 
to  their  very  depths.  He  had  also  a  peculiar  vein  of  satire  : 
his  little  dialogues  are  masterpieces,  as  well  as  his  popular 
poems,  such  as  the  "  Lamentation  over,  and  Warning  against, 
the  Unchristian  Power  of  the  Pope,  and  the  Unholy  Men  in 
Holy  Orders,"  which  appeared  in  December,  1520  ;  and  in 
which  the  abuses  in  the  Church,  the  disgraceful  rule  ol 
Italian  courtesans,  all  that  for  more  than  a  century  had  so 
deeply  embittered  the  nation,  was  expressed  in  almost 
doggerel  rhyme,  bound  up  as  it  were  as  a  quiver  full  of 
arrows,  and  flung  at  Rome. 

Then  came  the  Diet  of  Worms.  There  it  was  manifest 
that  even  among  his  own  class  Hutten  was  not  alone  in  his 
views.  The  nobles  of  the  empire  regarded  Luther  with 
interest*  and  good-will.  His  bearing  especially  excited  their 
sympathies.  Sickingen  offered  him  a  safe  retreat  in  one  of 
his  castles.  This  was  just  at  that  time  a  fact  full  of  sig- 
nificance, for  it  was  not  then  known  that  not  a  man  would 
be  found  in  Germany  to  carry  out  the  imperial  edict. 

Hutten  was  already  intimate  with  Sickingen ;  he  had 
made  him  acquainted  with  Luther's  mind  and  writings  at 
the  Ebernburg  in  the  winter  of  1520-21. 

FRANZ  VON  SICKINGEN  AND  THE  FEUD  OF  1522-23. 

The  character  of  Franz  von  Sickingen  was  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  his  young  friend  ;  but,  like  him,  he  was 
one  of  the  most  notable  representatives  of  sharply  defined 
tendencies.  He  did  not  belong  to  the  literary  school  in 
which  Hutten  had  early  distinguished  himself;  he  was  pre- 
eminently a  cavalier.  He  was  not  so  much  averse  to  study, 
as  so  many  of  his  class  were,  as  indifferent  and  unaccustomed 
to  it.  Neither  had  his  religious  views  any  very  definite 
character.  It  was  somewhat  difficult  to  interest  him  in  the 
pressing  questions  of  the  day.  This  was  undertaken  by 
Hutten.  He,  no  doubt,  approached  him  on  the  side  of  his 
national  sensibilities,  which  was  the  best  way  of  gaining 
him  for  the  cause.  He  submitted  in  his  old  age  to  the  new 
teaching  of  the  purified  gospel,  took  the  communion  in  both 
kinds,  and  allowed  the  teachers  of  the  Lutheran  doctrines  to 
preach  and  hold  services  in  his  domains.  Not  only  the 
Ebernburg,  but  all  the  country  belonging  to  it  between  the 


82  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

Rhine,  the  Nahe,  and  the  Neckar,  was  a  "refuge  for 
righteousness." 

The  mere  possibility  of  so  exceptional  a  position  as  that 
occupied  by  Sickingen  in  the  German  empire  proves  the 
unusual  and  contradictory  nature  of  the  elements  existing  at 
that  time  in  Germany.  He  was  undoubtedly  the  last  of  the 
German  knights  who  held  such  a  position. 

He  had  early  devoted  himself  to  the  profession  of  arms, 
had  become  not  only  an  expert  and  gallant  swordsman,  but 
possessed  extraordinary  talents  for  organization,  which  en- 
abled him  to  manage  the  rabble  ;  and  it  implied  a  good  deal 
of  talent  to  make  anything  harmonious  out  of  this  motley 
material. 

Out  of  German  soldiers,  wild  young  fellows  of  every  sort 
and  the  scattered  members  of  noble  families,  he  formed  the 
best  armies  of  the  day  :  there  was  a  motley  crew  of  infantry 
who  had  rifles  and  pieces  of  ordnance,  and  the  mailed 
cavalry  whose  mode  of  warfare  was  a  relic  of  mediaevalism. 
Sickingen  stood  on  the  boundary-line  between  two  periods, 
and  belonged  to  both.  He  was  a  knight  of  the  empire,  and 
all  the  Rhenish  nobles  were  closely  bound  to  him :  a  call 
from  him  summoned  them  all  to  arms.  Yet  he  was  at  the 
same  time  a  modern  soldier,  the  commander  of  a  paid  army 
•with  modern  weapons,  which  he  organized  on  modern 
principles  and  according  to  the  system  of  modern  tactics. 

What  Wallenstein  afterwards  was  on  a  large  scale, 
Sickingen  was  on  a  smaller  one.  His  call  to  arms  at- 
tracted all  whom  taste  or  habit  inclined  for  war  to  fight 
beneath  his  banners. 

In  those  times  of  scarcity  of  money,  when  there  was  no 
longer  a  national  call  to  arms  and  the  modern  system  of 
recruiting  did  not  exist,  a  man  who  maintained  and  headed 
such  an  army  was  a  valuable  ally  to  any  prince.  When  the 
Emperor  had  a  war  in  prospect  he  dispatched  a  messenger 
to  the  Ebernburg  to  obtain  Sickingen's  aid,  and  to  avail 
himself  of  his  credit  with  the  knights  and  their  retainers. 
Maximilian  I.  well  knew  how  to  uphold  him ;  he  acknow- 
ledged his  services  and  distinguished  him,  so  that  in  spite 
of  the  smallness  of  his  territory  he  was  an  important  political 
factor ;  and  so  widespread  was  his  reputation,  that  France 
offered  him  tons  of  money  to  fight  on  her  side. 

For  the  rest  there  were  many  points  in  Sickingen's 
character  which  belonged  to  the  genuine  knight  of  those 


FRANZ   VON   SICK1NGEN.  83 

days.  He  hated  the  rule  of  the  princes,  justly  feeling  that 
the  nobles  would  be  gradually  absorbed  in  their  supremacy; 
neither  could  he  endure  the  cities  with  the  power  conferred 
by  their  movable  capital,  their  immense  wealth,  and  the 
contempt  with  which  they  looked  down  on  the  pride  of  the 
poverty-stricken  nobles. 

Still  he  had  too  much  good  sense  not  to  come  to  terms, 
as  circumstances  required  it,  even  with  these  factors. 
He  also  hated  the  freebooting  exploits  of  the  knights 
who  infested  the  highways,  and  deliberately  broke  the 
newly  made  treaty  of  peace  (Landfriede).  Not  that  he 
had  not  ofien  broken  it  himself,  but  then  it  was  in  open 
feuds  between  one  power  and  another. 

Combined  with  his  outward-bound  and  worldly  tastes 
there  was  yet  something  about  Sickingen  which  recalled 
Hutten  to  mind ;  a  certain  halo  of  romance  which  still 
encircled  the  brows  of  the  best  representatives  of  the 
nobility,  and  which  was  derived  from  the  glory  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire.  With  this  man  Hutten  allied  himself,  the 
highly  cultivated  idealist  with  the  matter-of-fact  realist.  It 
was  a  singular  alliance  :  one  was  the  greatest  popular  author 
whom,  next  to  Luther,  Germany  had  produced ;  the  other, 
the  greatest  soldier  of  the  age,  a  true  German  knight,  who 
could  assemble  ten  thousand  men  under  his  banners,  for 
whose  favour  the  great  powers  eagerly  sued,  and  who  boasted 
that  he  had  turned  away  the  French  ambassadors  who 
brought  gold  to  the  election  of  the  Emperor,  when  his 
neighbours,  spiritual  and  temporal,  had  received  them  with 
open  arms.  It  was  obvious  that  this  alliance  must  have 
other  objects  than  to  promote  the  preaching  of  the  pure 
gospel.  Not  that  either  of  them  was  indifferent  to  this 
great  question  of  the  day.  They  advanced  the  cause 
zealously  in  their  own  fashion,  but  only  as  means  to  an 
end.  We  often  find  a  parallel  between  the  purposes  of  this 
alliance  and  the  objects  and  doings  of  the  Hussites  :  they 
threw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Church  in  spite  of  the  Emperor 
and  empire,  and  why  should  not  we  ?  The  following  points 
formed  the  groundwork  of  their  programme,  in  which 
national,  moral,  economical,  and  ecclesiastical  elements 
were  all  mingled  together  :  the  restoration  of  order,  that  is, 
of  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  empire,  with  the  Emperor  at 
the  head  and  the  nobles  by  his  side  ;  abolition  of  mercantile 
monopolies;  abrogation  of  foreign  laws  and  dismissal  of 


84  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

foreign  administrators  of  the  law ;  diminution  of  the  number 
of  ecclesiastics  and  monks;  the  enaction  of  laws  against 
foreign  manners ;  cessation  of  the  drain  of  German  money 
by  the  Fuggers  and  other  bankers  for  indulgences  and 
other  Church  taxes  imposed  upon  Germany  by  Rome. 

The  Emperor  was  absent,  and  the  many-headed  Imperial 
Chamber  reigned  in  his  stead.  It  was  a  well-disposed 
government,  but  it  wanted  monarchical  power  and  the  means 
of  keeping  the  peace,  even  in  its  own  immediate  neighbour- 
hood, and  therefore  the  time  seemed  adapted  for  a  great 
undertaking. 

In  the  spring  of  1522,  Sickingen,  like  a  lord  and  master 
as  he  was  of  the  nobles  of  the  Upper  Rhine,  summoned 
them  to  Landau  and  conferred  with  them  as  to  what  was  to 
be  done.  They  formed  themselves  into  a  league  of  brother- 
hood, and  bound  themselves,  with  Sickingen  at  their  head, 
to  resist  the  encroachments  of  the  reigning  princes.  There 
were  branches  of  the  league  throughout  the  Palatinate,  the 
provinces  of  the  Upper  and  Middle  Rhine,  to  the  Taunus, 
and  probably  extending  to  Swabia.  As  leaders,  besides 
Sickingen  and  Hutten,  we  find  Hartmuth  von  Kronenberg ; 
and  there  is  a  letter  of  Sickingen's  of  this  year  which 
appeals  to  the  free  German  cities  to  enter  into  the  league 
with  the  nobles  to  rebel  against  the  princes. 

Sickingen's  first  enterprise  in  this  year  was  the  occasion 
of  a  widespread  commotion.  One  of  his  neighbours  was 
the  Archbishop  of  Treves,  with  whom  Sickingen  had  had 
various  transactions,  and  whose  post  just  now  was  a  diffi- 
cult one.  He  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  Reformation, 
but  there  was  an  active  religious  movement  going  on  in  the 
city.  From  this  place  Caspar  Olevian  afterwards  came,  who 
was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  new  doctrines  and  of  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism.  The  reform  movement  here  also 
was  combined  with  discontent  with  the  ecclesiastical 
government. 

Sickingen  was  aware  of  all  this,  and  laid  his  plans  so  as 
to  take  advantage  of  the  strife.  His  plan  was  to  attack 
Treves,  to  take  possession  of  it,  to  put  his  party  at  the 
helm,  and  establish  the  new  doctrines.  If  he  succeeded, 
he  would  with  one  blow  make  himself  master  of  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  imperial  territory,  and  his  position  would 
be  doubly  strong  from  the  triumph  it  would  furnish  to  the 
great  reform  movement. 


FRANZ   VON   SICKINGEN.  85 

Sickingen  thought  it  would  be  an  easy  task  lo  conquer 
Richard  Greiftenklau  of  Treves,  and  had  no  fear  but  that 
he  could  obtain  succour.  Richard's  old  patron  in  the 
Palatinate,  Albrecht  of  Mayence,  would,  he  thought,  at  any 
rate  remain  neutral  •  he  had  always  been  a  time-server,  and 
would  not  risk  much  to  aid  his  colleague.  The  fourth 
Rhenish  Elector,  Hermann  von  Wied,  had  always  been 
indifferent  to  worldly  affairs,  and  was  not,  like  Richard  von 
Greiftenklau,  a  mounted  priest ;  he  cared  nothing  for  politics, 
and  was  exclusively  devoted  to  ecclesiastical  pursuits.  It 
was  he  who  astonished  the  empire  by  suddenly  accepting 
the  new  doctrines  in  the  evening  of  life ;  there  was  nothing, 
therefore,  to  fear  from  him. 

But  there  was  an  error  in  these  calculations :  whatever 
might  be  the  sentiments  of  the  princes  of  the  empire  on 
other  subjects,  there  was  so  much  esprit  de  corps  among 
them  that  they  at  once  recognised  to  the  full  the  danger  of 
a  rising  of  their  natural  enemies,  the  nobles.  "  If  we  let 
one  go  we  are  all  lost."  This  was  the  opinion  even  of 
Albrecht  of  Mayence ;  but  it  was  a  point  entirely  over- 
looked by  Sickingen. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1522  he  collected  together  horses 
and  horsemen,  arms  and  stores,  fortified  his  castles,  and 
summoned  the  hired  soldiers.  It  was  easy  to  find  a  pretext 
for  a  quarrel  with  the  Archbishop  of  Treves,  and  he  advanced 
against  him.  On  the  yth  of  September  he  suddenly  appeared 
before  the  city,  but  the  resolute  archbishop  was  not  taken 
by  surprise.  Sickingen  could  not  take  even  the  suburbs  • 
the  city  itself  was  crammed  full  of  knights  and  soldiers ;  the 
clergy  and  citizens  stood  armed  at  their  posts ;  and  while 
his  attack  was  warded  off,  the  reinforcements  on  which  he 
had  relied  were  partly  driven  back  and  partly  beaten. 

A  failure  at  this  juncture  was  most  disastrous.  The 
world  was  to  be  astonished  by  a  coup  de  main,  the  enemy  to 
be  startled  by  a  sudden  success ;  but  if  the  enemy  had 
time  to  consider  and  make  preparation,  Sickingen  would 
have  to  contend  with  a  power  that  even  he  was  not  man 
enough  to  resist. 

Things  came  to  the  worst  for  him.  Forsaken  by  his  allies, 
threatened  with  the  advance  of  the  Elector  Palatine  and 
the  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse,  by  the  i4th  of  December 
Sickingen  was  compelled  to  retreat.  Condemned  to  act 
fruitlessly  on  the  defensive  himself,  he  had  to  witness  the 


86  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

punishment  of  his  allies,  Hartmuth  von  Kronenberg  and 
Frowen  von  Hutten,  and  the  humiliation  of  the  rest  of  his 
followers;  and  in  the  spring  of  1523  he  snw  his  two  ill- 
defended  castles  of  Ebernburg  and  Landstuhl  threatened 
with  an  alliance  which  could  not  fail  to  crush  him. 

In  April  the  Elector  Palatine  and  the  Landgrave  ad- 
vanced with  their  artillery.  Sickingen  looked  down  from 
Landstuhl  for  succour  in  vain.  The  nobles  would  not  run 
any  further  risk,  and  the  Reformers  abjured  any  part  in  the 
revolution.  Even  the  first  guns  which  were  fired  against 
Landstuhl,  on  the  3oth  of  April,  showed  that  there  was  no 
chance  for  the  old  walls  against  this  kind  of  warfare. 
Seriously  wounded,  Sickingen  was  obliged  to  capitulate. 
"  This  unfortunate  firing,"  he  said,  "  has  ruined  my  castle  ; " 
and  he  died  in  presence  of  his  victors. 

The  nobles  were  vanquished  with  him  in  their  first  at- 
tempt to  resist  princes  and  priests,  and  to  regain  the  liberties 
which  acknowledged  no  other  rule  than  that  of  the  Emperor. 
The  victory  of  the  princes  was  also  a  triumph  of  modern 
warfare,  with  which  even  the  chivalry  of  a  Sickingen  could 
not  compete. 

The  nobles  of  the  empire  were  now,  one  after  another, 
attacked  ;  everywhere  the  opportunity  was  eagerly  seized  by 
the  neighbouring  prince  to  restrain  the  insolent  knight,  and 
to  accustom  him  to  the  position  of  a  subject  freeholder. 
One  thing  is  noteworthy  in  the  events  of  this  period — that 
the  elements  between  which  some  affinity  existed  never 
united  together.  Sickingen  perished  in  1523  ;  in  1524  the 
peasants  rose;  in  the  spring  of  1525  they  set  the  south  and 
west  of  Germany  in  flames,  yet  there  was  no  connection 
between  the  two  events,  though  the  objects  of  both  parties 
were  so  closely  allied.  Although  here  and  there  a  noble 
headed  the  peasantry  in  the  peasants'  war.  it  is  well  known 
that  it  only  took  place  from  compulsion.  Yet  in  the 
declarations  of  the  peasants  we  often  find  the  programme 
of  the  nobles  repeated  almost  word  for  word.  Each  class 
went  its  own  way  and  perished  alone  ;  the  nobles  like  an 
army  of  officers  without  soldiers,  the  peasants  like  soldiers 
without  officers.  Had  they  united  their  forces,  they  would 
have  formed  a  lever  which  would  have  produced  a  tremen- 
dous commotion.  These  two  elements  afterwards  combined 
to  upset  the  ancient  monarchy  in  France. 

Except  Hutten,  who  by  no  means  disdained  a  league 


REACTION.  87 

with  the  peasantry,*  the  nobles  were  too  proud  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  them,  and  a  victory  gained  at  the  price 
of  the  enfranchisement  of  that  class  would  have  seemed  to 
them  too  dearly  bought.  They  were  themselves  in  part  the 
oppressors  of  the  people,  and  many  of  the  people's  bitterest 
complaints  were  against  the  nobles.  Thus  the  gulf  between 
them  was  impassable ;  and  it  was  not  without  cause  that 
the  hatred  of  the  peasantry  was  afterwards  directed  not 
only  against  the  priests  and  princes,  but  also  against  the 
nobles. 

Hutten  took  flight  after  the  failure  of  Sickingen's  enter- 
prise, for  the  ecclesiastical  and  temporal  powers  combined 
to  persecute  him.  Weak  and  iL,  at  variance  with  his  old 
friends  and  with  himself,  and  not  approving  of  many  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  nobles,  he  fled  to  Switzerland,  where  he 
closed  his  life  in  great  misery,  in  the  island  of  Ufnau,  a  few 
weeks  after  Sickingen  had  perished  in  Germany. 

Thus  ended  the  first  revolutionary  revolt  which  accom- 
panied the  Reformation.  It  was  soon  to  be  followed  by 
another,  which  was  joined  by  much  larger  numbers,  at  first 
presented  a  threatening  aspect,  and  then  fell  to  the  ground 
like  the  revolt  of  the  nobles. 

THE  REACTION. — THE  ZEAL  OF  THE  CURIA. — THE 
CONVENTION  OF  RATISBON. 

The  course  which  events  took  in  this  rising  among  the 
nobles  resulted  in  no  good  to  the  Reformation.  However 
decidedly  reform  and  revolution  may  be  opposed  to  each 
other,  the  former  always  has  to  help  to  expiate  the  sins  of 
the  latter.  So  it  was  in  this  case.  Sickingen's  enterprise 
was  ascribed  to  the  Reformation.  It  was  of  no  avail  to 
say  that  Luther  had  taken  no  part  in  it,  for  the  Reformers 
to  declare  that  they  had  altogether  declined  to  share  the 
responsibility  of  Sickingen's  projects,  and  that  Sickingen 
had  only  wanted  to  make  a  tool  of  the  Reformation,  and 
would  not  take  the  right  means  to  carry  it  out ;  it  was  all 
in  vain.  To  some  it  was  a  reason,  and  to  others  a  pretext, 
for  saying,  "  These  are  the  consequences  of  the  Reforma- 
tion." f 

We   now  first  hear   of   decided   measures  being   taken 

•  See  poem  of  1522,  "Neu  Karsthaus."  t  Hagen. 


£8  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

against  the  new  preaching.  Individuals  were  persecuted  as 
abettors  of  it  who  were  not  so ;  the  Reformers  were  in- 
timidated, and  their  efficiency  diminished.  The  Imperial 
Chamber  also  felt  the  effects  of  the  reaction  ;  it  was  re- 
proached with  having  favoured  the  cause,  and  with  having 
secretly  aided  Sickingen.  This  was  absurd.  The  Imperial 
Chamber  had  not  been  able  to  protect  its  own  members 
from  highway  robbery,  to  say  nothing  of  defeating  a  martial 
leader  like  Sickingen,  and  the  Chamber  was  the  representa- 
tive of  the  very  authority  against  which  Sickingen  took  the 
field. 

At  the  Diet  in  1524  most  of  the  members  of  the  Chamber 
resigned,  and  the  Papal  Legate,  Campeggi,  thought  the  time 
was  come  to  make  his  previous  demands  with  more  chance 
of  success.  In  1523  a  reminder  of  the  Edict  of  Worms  had 
been  answered  by  the  one  hundred  Gravamina.  He  now 
alluded  to  it  again,  but  they  were  not  yet  ready  for  that. 
The  Legate  again  mistook  the  signs  of  the  times :  although 
the  Chamber  was  composed  almost  entirely  of  new  members, 
the  majority  was  still  against  the  edict.  It  was  certainly  a 
question  how  long  this  was  to  go  on ;  whether  a  fresh  dis- 
turbance would  not  lessen  this  majority ;  whether  after  this 
second  unfortunate  experience  it  would  not  be  decided,  if 
not  to  carry  out  the  edict  of  1521,  at  any  rate  to  upset  the 
decree  of  1523. 

A  schism  among  the  German  princes  on  the  great  re- 
ligious question  now  arose  lor  the  first  time.  Influenced  by 
the  Legate,  a  fraction  of  them  would  hear  nothing  more  of 
reform. 

Up  to  this  time  a  certain  absolutism  had  prevailed  at  the 
Diets ;  there  were  really  no  parties,  no  Lutherans,  only 
German  Christians  who  wished  for  reform — no  Catholics 
who  deprecated  it.  Men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  were 
united  on  the  basis  of  their  grievances  and  demands  for 
their  reform,  and  these  had  been  repeated  ever  since  the 
Councils  of  Costnitz  and  Basie.  The  formation  of  sects 
was  looked  upon  as  a  dangerous  hindrance  to  any  improve- 
ment. The  lormuia  of  the  Diet  of  June,  1523,  had  united 
all  Germany. 

But  a  change  took  place  under  the  influence  of  the  events 
o:  the  summer  of  1523.  A  party  of  the  German  princes 
banded  together  and  adopted  as  their  watchword,  "  Let  us 
have  no  more  changes,  let  all  remain  as  it  is;"  and  the 


ZEAL  OF  THE  CURIA.  89 

Curia  came  to  terms  with  them  and  refused  reform,  though 
it  made  a  partial  concession. 

Pope  Leo  X.  had  died  in  December,  1521,  just  when 
Charles's  successful  campaign  in  Italy  was  filling  him  with 
anxiety,  and  his  successor  was  Charles's  old  tutor,  Adrian 
von  Utrecht.  He  was  by  no  means  unworthy  of  the  dignity 
which  the  Emperor's  great  influence  had  conferred  upon 
him  ;  and  his  character  was  so  strongly  marked,  that  great 
anxiety  was  felt  as  to  the  part  he  might  take  in  the  move- 
ment in  Germany. 

Adrian  XI.  had  grown  up  under  the  strictest  monastic 
discipline ;  he  was  thoroughly  but  sincerely  the  monk,  and 
as  such  he  took  up  his  position  with  regard  to  the  Reforma- 
tion. As  a  Dominican  he  hated  the  new  doctrine,  hated 
any  rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the  Church ;  but  on 
the  subject  of  the  corruption  of  the  clergy  and  the  fearful 
decline  of  morality,  even  among  the  highest  dignitaries  of 
the  Church,  he  was  at  one  with  the  heretics.  He  acknow- 
ledged this  openly  as  no  pope  had  ever  done  before  him. 
One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  issue  an  instruction  to  Chiere- 
gati,*  in  which  the  following  passage  occurs :  "  We  know 
that  for  a  long  time  many  abominations  have  been  perpe- 
trated in  the  Holy  See ;  abuses  in  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
violation  of  rights ;  everything  has  gone  wrong.  From  the 
head  the  mischief  has  extended  to  the  limbs,  from  the  Pope 
to  the  cardinals ;  we  are  all  gone  astray ;  there  is  none 
that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one." 

This  was  of  the  greatest  importance.  Never  had  the  Curia 
so  expressed  itself  before.  And  they  were  not  empty 
words  :  Adrian  was  in  earnest.  He  began  with  the  head, 
that  he  might  work  upon  the  limbs.  He  began  to  esta- 
blish a  simple  apostolic  household,  to  abolish  the  luxurious 
habits  of  the  court,  he  lived  as  he  had  lived  as  a  monk, 
slept  at  Rome  on  the  same  hard  couch  that  had  served  him 
in  a  monastery,  and  continued  his  scourgings  like  any  in- 
significant brother;  but  he  demanded  the  same  simplicity 
and  self-denial  from  others,  and  the  splendid  papal  esta- 
blishment was  suddenly  abolished. 

He  encountered  opposition  everywhere,  which  was  not 

unnatural,  as  the  previous  state  of  things  had  existed  for 

centuries,  and  the  superior  clergy  and  the  Rom;m  people 

regarded  all  this  state  as  indispensable  to  the  Church ;  be- 

«  Ranke. 


QO  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

sides  this,  they  looked  upon  the  Pope  with  suspicion  as  a 
foreigner.  When  he  died,  after  a  short  reign,  rejoicings 
took  place  at  Rome. 

Thus  failed  the  attempt  to  reform  the  Church  at  the 
head :  how  could  reform  ever  reach  the  limbs  ?  His  successor, 
Clement  VII.,  1523,  to  Sept.,  1534,  was  a  Medici,  and,  like 
the  rest  of  that  family,  was  a  man  of  varied  intellectual 
culture,  a  connoisseur  of  art  and  patron  of  learning,  and  a 
thorough  man  of  the  world.  It  was  not  one  of  the  least 
misfortunes  of  the  Catholic  Church  that  in  this  century  the 
papal  chair  was  repeatedly  occupied  by  Italian  princes,  who 
were  more  intent  on  advancing  their  worldly  interests  than 
on  the  duties  of  their  spiritual  office. ,  In  such  times  a 
simple  but  earnest  monk  of  good  principles  was  far  better 
adapted  to  the  post  than  a  prince  who  saw  in  the  dignity  of 
his  office  nothing  but  a  means  ior  the  aggrandisement  of 
his  house.  This  is  what  Leo  X.  attempted,  and  his  suc- 
cessor succeeded  in.  Clement  VII.  brought  it  to  this — that 
when  the  situation  was  such  that  he  should  have  been  ready 
to  make  any  sacrifice  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  the 
Emperor,  that  he  might,  with  his  aid,  put  a  stop  to  heresy, 
a  mortal  enmity  sprang  up  between  them,  and  the  Em- 
peror sent  his  hired  troops  to  reduce  the  Eternal  City  to 
ruins. 

Nothing  was  to  be  expected  from  this  pope  for  the  cause 
of  reform.  He  had  not  even  the  wish  to  promote  it,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  power.  For  him  the  secular  interests  of 
Italy  were  paramount ;  and  there  is  nothing  in  his  ad- 
ministration to  remind  us  of  the  great  crisis  through  which 
the  Church  was  passing. 

The  first  act  of  the  new  papal  government  was,  by  dex- 
terously taking  advantage  of  the  revolutionary  movements, 
to  warn  the  princes  who  had  hitherto  been  the  most  zealous 
adherents  of  the  ancient  Church  to  go  no  further,  but  to 
agree  on  a  programme  which  should  prevent  any  further 
concessions. 

This  was  in  the  summer  of  1524.  At  the  end  of  June 
the  so-called  convention  took  place  at  Ratisbon,  at  which 
Austria,  Bavaria,  and  the  ecclesiastical  states  of  South 
Germany  were  represented.  An  agreement  was  come  to 
on  two  points  : — 

That  there  should  be  reform  in  the  Church  to  a  certain 
extent,  and  concessions  to  the  temporal  powers ;  but  that  in 


THE   CONVENTION   OF   RATISBON.  QI 

that  case  any  extension  of  the  new  doctrine  should  be 
strictly  prohibited. 

What  I  call  reforms  and  concessions  related  to  the  most 
glaring  abuses  in  the  existing  Church  system.  It  was  de- 
cided that  the  appointments  to  offices  in  the  Church  should 
be  made  with  more  regard  to  personal  merit ;  that  a  number 
of  ecclesiastical  extortions  should  cease ;  that  a  stop  should 
be  put  to  the  sale  of  indulgences ;  that  financial  extortions 
should  be  restricted  ;  that  a  portion  of  ecclesiastical  estates 
and  incomes  should  be  set  apart  for  the  secular  princes  of 
Bavaria  and  Austria. 

No  further  concessions  were  to  be  made  to  the  new 
doctrine  on  any  pretence  whatever,  and  anything  having 
even  an  appearance  of  favouring  it  was  to  be  strictly  pro- 
hibited. The  redress  of  the  one  hundred  Gravamina  was 
no  longer  insisted  on. 

The  position  of  affairs  was  greatly  changed,  when  we 
compare  this  convention  with  the  Diet  of  1523,  when  there 
was  not  a  single  prince  to  take  the  Legate's  part.  It  was 
the  first  triumph  of  the  new  papal  policy  in  the  matter  of 
reform.  The  only  reforms  ever  promoted  at  Rome  were  in 
the  spirit  of  these  concessions  made  at  Ratisbon  :  by  partial 
concessions  to  particular  princes  and  the  abolition  of  minor 
abuses  an  attempt  was  made  to  save  the  whole ;  and  even 
these  were  often  nothing  more  than  empty  promises,  de- 
feated by  the  unconditional  engagement  to  oppose  all 
further  innovations. 

This  was  the  situation  of  affairs  when,  at  the  end  of  1524 
and  beginning  of  1525,  the  clouds  of  a  new  and  still  greater 
revolution  were  gathering  over  Germany,  which  was  but 
foreshadowed  by  the  events  of  1522-3.  This  was  the 
Peasants'  War. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Great  Peasants'  War,  1524-5. — The  increasing  Oppression  of  the 
Peasantry. — The  Prelude  to  the  Peasants'  War  in  1514.— Influ- 
ence of  the  Reformation. — The  Twelve  Articles. — The  Heilbronn 
Scheme. — Thomas  Miinzer. — Luther's  Attitude.  —  The  Catas- 
trophe, May  and  June,  1525. 

THE  PEASANTS'  WAR  OF  1525.* 

THAT  which  occasioned  so  fearful  an  outbreak  in  the 
-*-  winter  of  1524-5  had  long  been  fermenting  in  the 
blood  of  the  people  and  the  tendencies  of  the  age.  Ever 
since  the  Hussite  wars  the  fermentation  had  been  going  on 
among  the  peasant  class.  The  execution  of  some  of  the 
leaders  had  only  given  fresh  courage  to  others — such  as 
the  "  Kasebroder  "t  in  the  Netherlands,  the  "  Bundschuh"| 
in  Baden — but  the  position  of  the  peasantry  was  in  no  way 
improved.  Thus  the  discontent  increased ;  even  in  1476, 
1491,  1498,  and  1503  there  had  been  outbursts  of  a 
threatening  character  on  the  Maine,  the  Rhine,  and  in 
South  Germany  ;  and  the  causes  of  discontent  were  increased 
rather  than  diminished. 

None  of  the  abuses  by  means  of  which  the  rulers,  the 

*  Zimmermann,  Geschichte  des  Baurrnkrieges,  1854.  Bensen,  Ge- 
schichte  des  Bauernkriegcs  in  Ostfranken.  Erlangen,  1840.  Jorg., 
Deutschland,  1521-26.  Ratisbon,  1852. 

t  Literally,  Chee.-e-bruthers,  a  name  adopted  by  a  league  of  rebel- 
lious peasants  in  the  Netherlands,  in  1401. 

£  Bundschuh,  a  tied  shoe,  as  worn  by  the  peasants,  in  contrast  to 
the  buckled  shoes  of  the  upper  classes ;  and  a  shoe  being  an  ancient 
symbol  of  subjection,  by  adopting  one  of  their  own  shoes  fastened  to  a 
pole  as  their  symbol,  the  peasants  meant  to  denote  that  they  were 
rising  against  the  rule  of  the  nobles,  and  meant  hencefoith  to  be  their 
own  masters.  The  word  afterwards  came  to  be  used  for  any  rebellious 
league,  when  the  origin  of  it  was  forgotten,  and  the  word  Bund  was 
supposed  to  mean  a  league  or  union.  — Tn. 


OPPRESSION  OF  THE  PEASANTRY.  93 

ecclesiastical  proprietors  and  the  nobles,  oppressed  the 
peasants,  had  been  abolished.  Some  partial  rebellions  had 
met  with  the  usual  fate  of  such  attempts  ;  .they  had  no 
effect  as  warnings,  or  in  inclining  the  rulers  to  clemency, 
but  rather  occasioned  the  reins  to  be  drawn  still  tighter. 
Then  with  the  increase  of  luxury,  the  demands  on  the 
peasantry,  the  beasts  of  burden  of  society,  had  greatly 
increased. 

Ever  since  intercourse  with  the  New  World  had  been 
opened,  a  great  change  had  taken  place  in  all  classes  of 
society.  The  new  markets  and  sources  of  income  created 
immense  riches ;  new  pleasures  and  new  wants  gave  rise  to 
luxury  such  as  had  never  been  known  before.  The  wealthy 
merchants  of  the  cities  could  afford  it,  but  it  was  emulated 
by  those  who  could  not.  Knights  and  nobles  had  to  find 
fresh  sources  of  revenue,  or  illegally  to  increase  those  they 
had  before  ;  and  since  the  treaty  of  peace  (Landfriede)  they 
were  in  a  great  measure  debarred  from  their  profitable  and 
favourite  occupation  of  plundering  the  cities.  Thus  the 
peasants  only  were  left  them  for  a  prey,  and  they  screwed 
them  more  cruelly  and  systematically  than  ever  before. 

Most  of  the  taxes  were  imposed  by  ancient  legal  covenants, 
but  even  the  opponents  of  the  revolt  could  not  deny  that 
they  had  been  illegally  and  unreasonably  multiplied. 

In  many  districts  the  oppression  of  the  peasants  had 
occasioned  violent  outbreaks.  One  of  these  took  place  in 
1514,  in  Wiirtemberg.  A  "Bundschuh,"  or  peasants'  league, 
had  existed  there  in  profound  secrecy  for  years.  No  one  was 
admitted  to  membership  who  possessed  property,  but  neither 
were  vagrants  nor  persons  of  evil  repute:  "poor  Kunz"  or 
"  Conrad,"  the  industrious  artisan  or  honest  labourer,  was 
the  privileged  person.  Their  captain  stalked  about  in  a 
tattered  cloak,  and  assumed  the  airs  of  an  imperial  general ; 
it  was  connived  at  as  mere  sport,  but  it  was  a  dangerous 
sport,  like  that  of  the  "Beggars"  at  a  later  period.  The 
police,  in  their  short-sightedness,  often  mistook  symptoms 
for  causes,  and  at  other  times  did  not  perceive  their  danger- 
ous character. 

It  was  a  godless  government  in  Wiirtemberg,  which  might 
have  driven  the  most  patient  people  to  desperation.  The 
lawless  Duke  Ulrich  was  at  length  at  enmity  with  all  the 
world,  and  most  of  all  with  his  cruelly  used  subjects.  He 
was  a  despot  of  the  modern  fashion,  of  whose  sports, 


94  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

pleasures,  and  banquets  fabulous  stories  are  told ;  but  there 
seems  to  be  too  much  foundation  for  most  of  them. 

When  the  new  tax  on  property  and  articles  of  consump- 
tion became  insupportable  it  was  resisted,  but  at  first  by 
harmless  methods.  When  false  weights  were  introduced, 
this  thunb-screw  to  increase  the  tax  on  meat,  bread,  and 
wine,  the  league  formed  a  procession  with  fifes  and  drums 
to  the  Rems,  jestingly  tested  the  weights  over  the  river,  and 
the  Duke's  weight  was  found  wanting. 

From  the  valley  of  the  Rems  the  disturbances  spread  to 
other  districts ;  the  arrest  of  one  of  the  leaders  called  up 
thousands  of  armed  peasants  like  magic.  They  advanced 
to  the  cities,  and  took  possession  of  some  of  them.  Before 
it  came  to  bloodshed  a  treaty  was  entered  into  with  the 
leaders ;  the  Duke  and  the  Diet  promised  that  everything 
should  be  honestly  investigated  and  reformed.  This  dis- 
persed the  people,  but  the  government  then  faithlessly 
seized  upon  the  leaders,  to  whom  safe-conduct  had  been 
promised  ;  the  Duke  sent  his  soldiers  into  the  peaceful 
villages,  took  the  conspirators  captive,  and  innocent  and 
guilty  were  alike  barbarously  plundered  and  ill  treated. 
This  was  ten  years  before  the  events  which  agitated  the 
country  far  beyond  Wiirtemberg. 

There  was,  in  fact,  no  material  legal  redress  in  prospect 
for  the  peasants.  However  highly  the  Roman  law  might 
be  valued,  still  it  was  a  misfortune  for  this  part  of  the  popula- 
tion that  a  foreign  system  of  laws,  administered  in  a  foreign 
language,  should  prevail.  It  was  from  this  that  the  blind 
hatred  of  the  peasants  to  the  doctorcs  juris  arose.  It  was 
a  well-grounded  complaint  in  this  case,  if  in  any,  that  the 
national  law  had  been  superseded  by  a  foreign  one,  which 
rendered  the  common  people  defenceless  against  legal 
chicanery.  Nowhere  had  the  poor  man  equal  rights  with 
the  rich  and  great.  This  was  one  of  the  greatest  grievances 
in  the  condition  of  Germany.  The  guardianship  of  the 
Emperor  and  the  Church,  which  had  lightened  the  burdens 
of  the  people  in  the  Middle  Ages,  which  everywhere  repre- 
sented the  milder  forms  of  subjection,  and  whose  yoke  was 
an  easy  one,  now  no  longer  existed.  This  was  the  inflam- 
mable material  into  which  the  spark  of  the  Reformation  fell. 

The  Reformation  was  not  the  exciting  cause  of  the  com- 
motions among  the  peasantry.  There  were  revolts  among 
them  of  an  earlier  date  than  these  religious  conflicts,  and 


OPPRESSION   OF  THE  PEASANTRY.  95 

they  must  be  included  among  the  symptoms  which  por- 
tended the  convulsions  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  under  the  influence  of  the  Reforma- 
tion the  commotions  assumed  a  different  character.  It 
always  makes  a  great  difference  whether  resistance  arises 
from  local  and  individual  oppression,  or  whether  it  is  aroused 
by  a  state  of  things  contrary  to  the  universal  principles  of 
morality  and  religion — whether  the  revolt  of  individuals 
against  intolerable  oppression  receives  a  sort  of  sanction 
from  a  new  constitution  of  society  and  the  state.  Now 
that  a  doctrine  had  come  to  the  aid  of  the  peasants,  which 
promised  deliverance  to  the  human  race  from  burdens  and 
bondage  of  every  sort,  the  case  was  quite  other  than  it  was 
when  they  were  only  complaining  of  tithes  and  compulsory 
service. 

It  was  quite  intelligible  that  the  Reformers  should  under- 
stand the  gospel  in  a  purely  spiritual  sense ;  but  it  was  also 
intelligible  that  the  peasants,  in  their  pitiful  condition, 
should  prefer  to  take  it  literally.  When  the  Scriptures  were 
in  their  hands,  when  they  found  in  this  simple  and  popular 
book  a  number  of  sayings  which  seemed  lavourable  to  their 
cause,  it  appeared  as  if  they  had  found  an  organ,  and  their 
spokesmen  could  say,  "  We  ask  nothing  but  what  is  pro- 
mised by  the  founders  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  we 
are  supported  in  our  demands  by  the  Scriptures." 

There  was  nothing  in  the  Bible  about  the  hierarchy,  or 
the  distinction  between  the  clergy  and  laity,  nothing  about 
the  caste-like  distinctions  which  were  universal  in  the 
mediaeval  world,  nothing  about  the  duty  of  the  poor  and 
the  weak  to  bear  for  ever  the  boundless  oppression  of  lords 
spiritual  and  temporal ;  no,  the  Founder  of  this  faith 
addressed  Himself  to  the  poor,  the  weary,  and  the  heavy- 
laden  ;  His  teaching  seemed  to  be  aimed  against  pharisaic 
tyranny.  It  is  undeniable  that  there  is  a  large  democratic 
element  in  Christianity,  only  an  attempt  was  made  to  take 
it  in  too  literal  and  material  a  sense.  Before  the  Reforma- 
tion the  peasants'  wars  were  occasioned  simply  by  natural 
hatred  of  unjust  oppression ;  after  it  a  strong  religious 
element  was  mingled  with  it,  a  faith  that  they  were  fighting 
for  true  Christianity,  a  fanaticism  which  joyfully  encountered 
death  for  a  great  cause. 

From  the  end  of  1524  there  were  symptoms  in  important 
isolated  risings  that  a  general  insurrection  was  at  hand,  and 


9  6  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

it  was  a  singular  fact,  which  alone  preserved  the  existing 
order  of  things  in  Germany,  that  the  two  most  dangerous 
opponents  of  the  power  of  the  rulers,  the  nobles  and  the 
peasants,  rose  up,  not  together,  but  in  turn,  only  in  turn  to 
be  vanquished. 

The  insurrection  began  in  the  summer  of  1524,  on  the 
Upper  Rhine,  along  the  Swiss  frontiers.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  river  the  peasantry  were  free,  and  the  unhappy  people, 
encouraged  by  their  success,  gradually  set  South,  West, 
and  Central  Germany,  Alsace,  Mayence,  and  the  borders 
of  the  Neckar,  in  flames.  North  Germany  only  was 
spared. 

In  this  revolution,  as  in  every  other,  there  were  many 
shades  of  opinion — from  the  moderate  party,  whose  desires 
were  certainly  reasonable  and  practicable,  to  the  extreme 
set,  who  called  the  whole  existing  order  of  society  in  ques- 
tion. So  it  had  been  in  the  Hussite  wars.  When  there  is 
no  longer  any  faith  in  the  old  order  of  things,  and  "  Mr. 
Omnes"  appears  on  the  scene,  such  extremes  are  never 
wanting.  They  are  not,  as  many  nowadays  maintain,  an 
invention  of  modern  times;  they  are  as  old  as  humanity 
itself.  The  only  difference  I  see  is,  that  among  the  masses 
a  feeling  of  their  own  importance  and  self-confidence  in  the 
contest  has  greatly  increased. 

The  Twelve  Articles  which  were  circulated  in  Hegau  and 
the  borders  of  Lake  Constance  formed  a  comparatively 
moderate  programme  for  a  revolution,  and  its  practicability 
cannot  be  disputed. 

But  there  was  another  party  in  Franconia,  from  Rothen- 
burg  and  Bensheim,  as  far  as  Wiirzburg  and  the  Tauber, 
comprising  not  peasants  alone,  but  some  educated  people, 
who  thought  that  the  time  was  come  for  reconstituting 
the  whole  empire.  They  were  the  advocates  of  a  strong 
monarchical  power,  the  opponents  of  subdivision  into  princi- 
palities, and  of  the  oppressive  feudal  system  ;  they  demanded 
uniformity  in  the  coinage,  measures,  weights,  customs,  and 
the  legal  administration,  and  the  abolition  of  a  foreign  system 
of  laws.  Their  programme  has  a  singular  resemblance  to 
that  of  1789.  These  demands  could  not,  of  course,  have 
originated  with  the  peasantry  alone ;  the  plan  was  drawn  up 
by  learned  men  who  had  been  in  office,  and  they  hoped  by 
one  stroke  to  put  an  end  to  all  the  misery  in  the  German 
empire.  This  party  was  again  surpassed  by  another,  who 


THE  PEASANTS'   WAR.  97 

were  to  be  found  farther  north,  in  Thuringia  and  Saxony — 
the  followers  of  Thomas  Miinzer,  who  projected  a  revolu- 
tion of  the  most  radical  sort,  which  could  only  have  been 
carried  out  by  subverting  every  existing  institution. 

Thus  popular,  national,  religious,  political,  and  social 
elements  were  all  in  commotion  together.  This  was  un- 
fortunate for  the  healthy  and  justifiable  part  of  the  plan  : 
had  this  been  unanimously  kept  to,  the  world  must  have 
submitted  to  it  without  bloodshed. 

It  was  not  at  first  the  intention  of  the  peasants  to  use 
violence  :  they  rather  meant  to  obtain  concessions  by  resolu- 
tions at  great  meetings,  and  by  popular  demonstrations. 
Their  opponents  dexterously,  but  dishonourably,  took  ad- 
vantage of  this,  and  promised  redress  :  courts  of  arbitration 
should  be  established,  in  which  it  should  be  thoroughly 
investigated  what  was  legal  and  what  illegal,  and  improve- 
ments adopted  accordingly ;  but  this  was  only  a  feint.  We 
have  proois  in  writing  that  those  who  thus  pacified  and 
dispersed  the  malcontents  made  themselves  merry  because 
the  peasants  had  fallen  into  the  snare.  The  object  was  to 
gain  time  for  preparation  at  any  price.  If  the  peasants 
broke  out  just  then  they  would  find  their  opponents  unpre- 
pared, and  inflammable  material  in  plenty  ;  there  was  no 
disciplined  army  in  all  South  Germany  capable  of  opposing 
a  front  to  them. 

In  February  and  March,  1525,  the  revolt  broke  out 
everywhere  simultaneously.  The  faith  of  the  peasants  in 
redress  was  betrayed,  oppression  by  no  means  lessened, 
and  a  longer  delay  would  only  give  their  lords  and  masters 
time  to  arm  to  the  teeth. 

The  coincidence  of  the  outbreak  in  various  places  was 
not  so  much  the  result  of  an  understanding  as  of  the  fact 
that  circumstances  were  everywhere  the  same.  The  flames 
burst  out  in  the  Schwarzwald,  at  Hegau  on  Lake  Con- 
stance, at  Kempten  and  Salzburg.  The  Franconian  peasants 
soon  joined  the  rebels,  and  there  was  a  similar  rising  from 
Wiirtemberg  to  Nuremberg.  It  soon  spread  to  the  provinces 
of  the  Middle  Rhine,  to  the  Palatinate,  Alsace,  and  the 
Taurus,  throughout  the  dominions  of  the  nobles  of  the 
Middle  Rhine. 

It  is  beyond  the  province  of  a  general  history  of  the 
period  to  specify  the  individual  conflicts.  When  the  storm 
broke  in  the  south-west  corner  of  Germany,  and,  under  the 

H 


98  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

leadership  of  Hans  Miiller  of  Bulgenbach,  extended  itself 
to  the  Lake  of  Constance,  a  programme  was  put  forth  and 
circulated  throughout  the  empire,  which  was  considered  to 
be  that  of  the  German  peasantry  generally.  There  were 
Twelve  Articles,*  the  majority  of  which  have  now  been 
universally  carried  out. 

In  the  preamble  the  reader  is  reminded  that  the  peasants 
were  demanding  nothing  but  what  was  justified  by  the 
principles  of  the  gospel;  it  was  not  they,  therefore,  who 
were  rebels,  but  those  who  refused  their  just  rights  in 
opposition  to  the  teaching  of  Christ.  They  had  no  desire 
for  revolt ;  they  knew  that  the  gospel  preached  a  religion 
of  peace  and  love.  If,  nevertheless,  things  came  to  the 
worst,  they  would  not  be  responsible  for  it.  But  they 
trusted  in  God.  "Will  God  blame  the  peasants  who 
anxiously  strive  to  live  according  to  His  will  ?  Who  will  find 
fault  with  His  will  ?  (Romans  xi.)  Who  will  interfere 
with  His  judgments  ?  (Isaiah  xl.)  Who  can  resist  His 
majesty  ?  (Romans  viii.)  Did  He  not  hear  the  children  of 
Israel  when  they  cried  unto  Him,  and  deliver  them  out  of 
the  hand  of  Pharaoh,  and  will  He  not  deliver  His  people 
now  ?  Yes,  He  will  avenge  them  speedily.  (Exodus  iii.,  xiv. ; 
Luke  xviii.  8.)  Therefore,  Christian  reader,  read  attentively 
the  following  articles,  and  then  judge. 

1.  "  The  whole  congregation    shall  elect  and  choose  a 
minister,  and  shall  have  power  to  dismiss  him,  should  he 
conduct  himself  improperly,  (i  Timothy  iii. ;  Titus  i.)"  (This 
was  not  demanded  by  Luther,  though  it  was  by  Zwingli.) 
"  The  elected  minister  shall  preach  the  pure  gospel  to  us 
plainly,  without  human  addition,  human  learning,  or  com- 
mands. (Acts  xiv.)" 

2.  Only   the   great   tithe   (the   legal   tithe   of  corn),  as 
ordained  in  the  Old  Testament,  shall  be  paid  in  future ; 
and,  after  the  maintenance  of  the  minister  is  provided  for, 
the  remainder  shall  be  for  the  maintenance  of  the  village 
poor,  and  a  little  laid  by  for  times  of  war.     But  they  will 
no  longer  pay  the  small  tithes ;  "  they  are  unjust  tithes  of 
man's  invention,"  for  "  the  Lord  God  created  beasts  for 
man's  free  use." 

3.  They  will  no  longer  be  held  as  "  bondsmen,"  "  since 
Christ  has  bought  us  and  redeemed  us  all  by  His  precious 

*  Given  in  detail  in  Zimmermann. 


THE  TWELVE  ARTICLES.  99 

blood.  The  Scripture  teaches  us  that  we  are  free,  and  we 
desire  to  be  free.  Not  that  we  want  to  be  so  free  as  to 
have  no  rulers;  God  does  not  teach  that."  They  were 
willing  to  "obey  in  everything  reasonable  and  Christian 
the  elected  rulers  ordained  by  God." 

4.  Game,  fowl,   and  fish  shall  be  free   as  God   created 
them,  and  they  will  no  longer  endure  "  that  what  God  has 
permitted  to  grow  for    man's  use  shall  be  wastefully  de- 
voured by  irrational  creatures." 

5.  The  management  of  woods  is  unreasonable,  for  the 
upper  classes  have  appropriated  all  the  firewood  to  them- 
selves.     "  It  is  our  opinion   that  whatever  firewood  they 
have  not  bought,  if  in  possession  of  ecclesiastics  or  lay- 
men, should  be  restored  to  the  commune,  and  every  one 
in    the  commune    shall   be  at   liberty   in   reason   to  take 
what  he  wants  for  his  house  without  payment,  also  to  take 
it  for  carpenter's  work,  but  with  the  knowledge  of  those 
persons  appointed  by  the  commune  to    the  office  (of  in- 
spector), whereby  the  destruction  of  firewood  will  be  pre- 
vented." 

6.  The  burden  of  compulsory  service  shall  be  restricted. 

7.  The  peasant  especially  shall  not  be  compelled  to  do 
"more  than  he  is  bound  to  do  by  the  contract  between 
the  master  and  peasant.     Anything  over  and  beyond  this 
shall  be  done  for  reasonable  pay." 

8.  Rents  are  so  high  that  they  ruin  the  peasants.     They 
shall  be  regulated  afresh  according  to  reason. 

9.  Arbitrary  punishments  and  perpetual  fresh  inflictions 
of  them  shall  cease. 

10.  The  pastures   and   fields  which   have    been    taken 
from  the  communes  shall  be  restored. 

11.  The  right  of  heriot,  by  which  widows   and  orphans 
are  deprived  of  their  inheritance,  shall  be  entirely  abolished. 

12.  All  these  propositions  shall  be  tested  by  Scripture, 
and  if  they  can  be  refuted,  but  in    that  case   only,  they 
shall  not  stand. 

The  two  main  points  in  this  programme  are  liberty  in 
Church  matters  and  for  the  preaching  of  the  new  doctrine, 
and  the  abolition  of  feudal  oppression,  which  was  an  in- 
tolerable burden  to  the  poor  man.  Ancient  rights  were 
expressly  recognised,  but  ancient  abuses  of  them  assailed. 

It  was  a  moderate  programme — humane,  practicable,  and 
justified  by  Scripture.  Had  it  been  carried  out  in  1524,  Ger- 


100  THE   REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

many  would  have  been  spared  an  immense  calamity.  Besides 
all  individual  suffering,  the  nation  as  a  whole  would  have 
been  spared  the  evil  consequences  of  an  unsuccessful 
revolution.  The  healthy  interest  in  politics  and  public 
affairs  which  in  those  stirring  times  began  to  be  manifested 
would  have  been  fostered,  instead  of  being  crushed. 

The  Twelve  Articles  were  at  first  the  programme  of  the 
whole  peasant  class ;  thousands  upon  thousands  of  the 
little  handbills  were  circulated.  It  was  an  unhappy  thing 
for  the  peasants  that  they  did  not  keep  to  these  demands, 
that  they  split  up  into  parties,  and  weakened  the  force  of 
their  just  requests  by  want  of  unanimity.  It  was  quite 
intelligible  that  the  ruling  powers  should  oppose  the 
fanaticism  which  prevailed  in  Saxony  and  Thuringia  under 
the  leadership  of  Thomas  Miinzer,  Carlstadt,  and  the  men 
of  Zwickau  ;  common  prudence  should  have  prevented 
claims  so  preposterous  as  theirs  from  being  put  forth. 

Besides  the  Twelve  Articles  another  programme  appeared, 
which  originated  with  the  more  educated  classes,  and  in 
their  earnest  desire  for  a  thorough  reform  of  the  German 
State  and  Church.  The  desire  of  this  party  was  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  a  new  constitution  for  Germany  amidst  the 
commotions  occasioned  by  the  Peasants'  War,  and  their 
demands  had  considerable  resemblance  to  those  advanced 
in  1789. 

The  scheme  had  been  drawn  up  by  Wendel  Hipler, 
formerly  chancellor  to  Prince  Hohenlohe.  Heilbronn,  where 
it  originated,  was  selected  as  the  seat  of  a  provisional 
government,  as  the  central  point  of  the  Peasants'  War. 

The  demands,  comprised  in  fourteen  articles,  were  : — That 
all  ecclesiastics,  high  or  low,  of  whatever  name  and  rank, 
be  subjected  to  reform ;  their  property  confiscated  and 
devoted  to  the  common  good,  after  enough  has  been 
assigned  to  them  for  the  necessaries  of  life  ;  that  all  tem- 
poral rulers,  counts,  and  lords  be  reformed,  in  order  that 
the  poor  man  may  be  no  longer  oppressed,  but  that  the 
most  humble  may  have  equal  rights  with  the  most  exalted; 
that  all  cities  and  communes  be  reformed  in  accordance 
with  Christian  liberty  and  natural  and  divine  laws  ;  that 
all  taxes  upon  the  land  be  abolished  ;  that  no  doctor  of 
the  Roman  law  be  admitted  to  any  office ;  that  no  eccle- 
siastic have  a  seat  in  the  councils  of  the  empire  nor  hold 
any  temporal  office;  that  sixty-four  courts  of  justice  be 


THE  HEILBRONN   SCHEME.  IOI 

established  in  the  empire  composed  of  members  of  all 
classes  of  society,  sixteen  provincial  courts,  four  superior 
courts,  and  over  them  all  an  imperial  supreme  court  of 
judicature  ;  that  all  roads  be  open,  the  merchants  safe  in 
their  journeys,  but  that  the  prices  of  their  merchandise  be 
regulated  ;  that  there  be  no  tax  but  the  old  imperial  tax ; 
a  uniform  system  of  coinage,  weights,  and  measures  through- 
out the  empire ;  that  the  usury  practised  by  the  great 
bankers  be  limited ;  that  the  nobles  be  free  from  eccle- 
siastical feudal  obligations  ;  that  the  dominion  of  the  ruling 
princes  be  abolished ;  that  there  be  but  one  rule  and  one 
authority,  that  of  the  Emperor.* 

This  Heilbronn  scheme  breathes  a  very  different  spirit 
from  that  of  the  twelve  Swabian  articles.  While  it  demands 
a  subversion  of  the  German  ecclesiastical  constitution,  there 
is  nothing  expressly  said  of  the  teaching  of  the  gospel ;  and 
the  material  demands,  which  in  those  occupy  so  large  a 
space,  are  in  this  only  cursorily  touched  on.  This,  on  the 
contrary,  presents  the  last  bold  sketch  of  a  plan  of  imperial 
reform,  in  which  the  ancient  idea  of  the  empire  is  presented 
from  the  democratic,  not  the  imperial  point  of  view,  or  that 
of  the  ruling  princes.  This  scheme  projected  its  shadow  far 
into  the  future,  and  was  for  a  long  time  partly  carried  out 
and  partly  refused.  Had  the  leaders  united  in  proposing  a 
plan  of  this  sort,  and  had  the  masses  adhered  to  it  as  one 
man,  it  would  have  afforded  material  for  a  tremendous 
revolution.  And  the  first  successes  of  the  peasants  were  sur- 
prising :  prelates,  nobles,  and  cities  submitted  to  them  in 
continually  increasing  numbers.  From  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine  far  into  Austria  and  the  Tyrol,  from  the  Lake  of 
Constance  to  Franconia  and  Thuringia,  the  revolt  had 
engulfed  all  cognate  elements,  and  partly  vanquished,  and 
partly  stunned,  whatever  was  in  opposition  to  it.  The 
successor  of  the  Elector  Frederic  of  Saxony,  who  had  just 
died,  once  exclaimed,  in  melancholy  jest,  "Who  knows  how 
long  my  power  may  last  ?  "  and  it  was  no  wonder  that  the 
reigning  princes  thought  things  looked  ominous  for  them. 

It  was  natural  that  it  should  be  an  enigma  to  Napoleon  I. 
that  Charles  V.  did  not  take  advantage  of  the  situation  to 
make  Germany  a  united  empire.  But  it  was  not  natural 
that  a  monarch  should  think  of  it  who  was  always  occupied 

*  Bensen,  Ranke. 


102  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

with  other  things  than  reforms  in  Germany,  spiritual  or 
temporal,  who  had  just  fought  the  battle  of  Pa  via,  and  was 
meditating  at  Madrid  on  the  fruits  of  his  victory. 

Of  much  greater  moment  than  the  Emperor's  attitude 
was  the  bearing  of  the  citizen  middle-class  portion  of  the 
nation,  among  whom  the  Reformation  had  its  seat,  and  who 
were  accustomed  to  take  command  from  Luther.  If  he 
joined  the  peasants  in  their  revolt,  if  he  echoed  their  de- 
mands, social,  national,  and  ecclesiastical,  the  movement 
would  be  irresistible,  and  would  carry  the  reigning  princes 
along  with  it ;  but  if  he  held  back  or  opposed  the  revolt, 
its  wings  would  be  clipped,  and  a  reaction  would  set  in. 

Before  Luther  had  declared  himself,  the  masses  counted 
on  him  as  their  leader,  or  reckoned  at  least  on  his  silent 
approval.  The  opinions  entertained  even  among  the  govern- 
ing classes  were  very  various,  and  many  of  the  imperial 
cities  were  in  favour  of  the  peasants'  demands,  and  thought 
that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  carry  out  other  needful 
reforms  with  their  moderate  help. 

But  when  Luther  disclaimed  all  participation  in  the 
rebellion,  and  then  expressed  a  downright  condemnation 
of  it,  all  the  middle  class,  the  great  camp  of  his  party, 
turned  against  it,  and  the  fate  of  the  movement  was  vir- 
tually decided.  The  error  in  this,  as  in  so  many  other 
revolutionary  movements,  was  want  of  moderation. 

Thomas  Miinzer  stands  foremost  among  the  travelling 
preachers  of  the  Peasants'  War  who  were  against  everything 
which  the  middle  class  held  sacred.  The  opposite  tend- 
encies of  the  age  are  curiously  united  in  this  remarkable 
man.  He  is  at  enmity  with  the  entire  existing  order  of 
things,  yet  quarrels  with  the  leaders  who  are  beginning  to 
reconstitute  it.  He  hates  the  constitution,  service,  and 
doctrine  of  the  ancient  Church ;  but  he  hates  Luther  still 
more,  because  he  has  stopped  half-way.  As  a  rationalist  he 
is  opposed  to  Luther's  doctrine  of  justification  and  election 
of  grace;  yet  he  is  enough  of  a  mystic  to  boast  that  he 
receives  divine  revelations,  and  to  address  the  people  as  a 
prophet.  He  leads  the  onslaught  against  convents,  images, 
priests,  and  the  professional  garb ;  but  the  revolt  of  the 
peasants  against  the  arbitrary  power  of  princes,  nobles,  and 
priests  is  not  enough  for  him ;  the  treaties  which  abolish  the 
oppression  of  the  old  order  of  things  are  preposterous ; 
princes,  nobles,  and  priests  should  no  longer  exist ;  property 


LUTHER  S   ATTITUDE.  103 

itself  is  an  evil ;  the  subversion  of  Church  and  State  must 
be  followed  by  that  of  the  whole  existing  order  of  society. 
Between  the  Maine  and  the  Rhine,  between  Upper 
Swabia  and  Thuringia,  he  inflamed  the  people  with  his 
fiery  harangues,  in  the  style  of  the  Old  Testament,  against 
palaces  and  courts  and  the  temporal  and  spiritual  rulers. 
"  Look  not  on  the  sorrow  of  the  ungodly,  let  not  your 
sword  grow  cold  from  blood,  strike  hard  upon  the  anvil  of 
Nimrod,  cast  his  tower  to  the  ground,  because  the  day  is 
yours."  Thus  does  he  incite  them  to  murderous  onslaughts, 
and  from  the  security  of  Miihlhausen  he  prepared  lor  a 
decisive  stroke. 

We  know  well  what  was  Luther's  opinion  of  everything 
like  attempts  to  redress  grievances  by  violence,  whether  by 
high  or  low,  in  a  good  cause  or  a  bad.  It  was  his  firm  con- 
viction that  rebellion  is  always  an  evil,  that  it  is  contrary  to 
the  divine  order,  and  only  increases  the  mischief.  On  no 
point  is  he  more  thoroughly  consistent  than  on  this. 

For  the  princes,  who  at  a  later  period  would  have  fought 
for  his  cause  against  the  Emperor,  he  had  the  same  answer 
as  for  the  nobles  when  they  rebelled  against  the  princes. 
His  attitude  in  relation  to  the  Peasants'  War  was  therefore 
settled  beforehand ;  it  resulted  from  an  essential  feature  in 
his  character;  and  the  accusation  is  quite  false  which  was 
made  against  him  by  the  party  spirit  of  the  time,  that  he 
held  back  at  first  because  he  had  not  the  courage  to  speak 
out,  and  that  it  was  the  triumphs  of  the  reaction  which 
again  emboldened  him.  Before  anything  decisive  had  oc- 
curred he  did  the  most  courageous  thing  he  could  do — he 
broke  with  all  parties.  He  was  convinced  that  temporal 
and  spiritual  objects  could  not  be  pursued  together ;  that 
reform  had  no  worse  ally  than  revolution ;  that  teaching, 
preaching,  schools,  education — all  would  fall  to  the  ground 
if  this  turbulent  movement  proved  victorious.  The  ex- 
periences of  1793  justified  this  opinion.  Amidst  civil  war, 
accustomed  to  violent  and  aimless  revolution,  the  people 
would  become  uncivilised,  the  simple  religious  feeling  of 
old  times  would  be  quenched,  the  gradual  growth  of  a  new 
spirit  could  not  prosper  amidst  the  storm  and  tumult  of 
revolution. 

Luther  at  once  replied  to  the  Twelve  Articles  of  the  Swabian 
peasants  with  an  exhortation  to  peace  :  he  endeavoured  to 
moderate  the  peasants,  but  at  the  same  time  reminded  the 


104  THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMAKY. 

princes  and  nobles  of  their  old  and  manifold  wrong- 
doings. "You  must  be  changed,  and  submit  to  God's 
word,"  &c.  But  writing  could  do  no  good  in  this  case  ;  the 
peasants  thought  him  lukewarm,  and  the  princes  and  nobles 
considered  his  representations  too  unfavourable  to  them. 
The  storm  now  broke  wildly  over  palaces,  churches,  and 
convents,  caused  by  the  incendiarism  of  the  well-known 
"  murderous  prophets  and  factious  spirits,"  as  Luther  used 
to  call  Miinzer  and  his  followers.  Luther  was  then  stirred 
up,  and  wrote  his  second  paper  "  against  the  rapacious  and 
murderous  peasants,"  the  tone  of  which  was  as  violent  as 
the  peasants  themselves.  He  stormed  against  the  shameful 
deeds  of  the  rebels,  and  was  so  far  carried  away  as  to  call 
upon  the  authorities  to  take  severe  measures  against  them ; 
they  should  "  stab,  kill,  and  strangle  "  them  without  mercy. 
This  could  but  do  harm  :  the  authorities  were  already  so 
exasperated  that  he  should  have  urged  moderation  upon 
them. 

The  part  that  Luther  took  against  the  movement  had 
very  decisive  results  :  the  great  body  of  the  middle  class, 
which  had  been  undecided  before,  now  received  their 
watchword.  Those  upon  whose  sympathies  the  peasants 
had  counted  took  no  part;  the  rest  prepared  for  armed 
resistance. 

The  Peasants'  War  failed  for  want  of  skilful  leaders,  through 
the  indiscretion  of  the  masses,  from  want  of  unanimity 
among  their  leaders  and  their  plans,  and  from  the  attitude 
of  the  party  who,  though  not  at  first  unfavourable,  after- 
wards either  took  no  part  in  it  or  openly  joined  their 
adversaries. 

Miinzer's  peasant  army,  badly  armed  and  worse  led,  was 
entirely  defeated  at  Frankenhausen  by  the  troops  of  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse,  the  Elector  John,  and  the  Dukes 
George  and  Henry  of  Saxony,  on  the  i5th  of  May,  1525. 
The  captain  of  the  Swabian  league,  Truchsess  von  Waldburg, 
and  the  Electors  of  the  Palatinate  and  Treves,  put  an  end 
to  the  rebellion  in  Wiirtemberg,  the  bands  of  soldiers  in 
Alsace  and  on  the  Tauber  were  cut  down,  the  defenceless 
farms  and  villages  burnt,  and  the  remnant  of  the  rebels 
treated  with  the  greatest  cruelty. 

The  peasants  experienced  the  usual  consequences  of  an 
unsuccessful  revolt  in  their  worst  form  :  the  vanquished  party 
were  inhumanly  punished,  and  the  oppression  against  which 


RESULTS  OF  THE  PEASANTS'  WAR.     105 

they  had  rebelled  became  greater  than  ever.  A  very  few 
masters  had  sufficient  self-denial  to  loosen  the  reins  a  little, 
but  most  of  the  peasants  suffered  more  than  before.  The 
effects  of  the  reaction  were  very  great,  and  caused  all 
attempts  at  reform,  to  which  so  lively  an  impulse  had  been 
given,  to  be  looked  upon  as  suspicious  and  revolutionary. 
It  is  easy,  when  an  alarming  rebellion  has  been  quelled,  to 
condemn  without  discrimination  all  that  appears  to  have 
any  connection  with  it.  The  real  grievances  were  not  in  the 
least  degree  remedied,  only  put  aside,  so  that  the  mischiet 
was  still  raging  in  secret.  The  Peasants'  War  not  only  did 
nothing  for  the  class  who  originated  it ;  it  occasioned  a  great 
schism  in  the  nation,  injured  the  great  cause  of  reform, 
and  quenched  men's  interest  in  politics  for  a  long  time  to 
come. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Reaction  of  the  Revolution  upon  the  Reformation. — Charles  V.  and 
the  Peace  of  Madrid. — The  Diet  of  Spire,  August,  1526. — Spread 
of  the  Reformation. — Its  share  in  the  National  Disruption. — The 
new  War  in  Italy. — The  League  of  Cognac,  May,  1526. — The 
Storming  of  Rome  by  the  Imperial  Troops,  1527. — Advance  of  the 
French  to  Naples,  and  Dissolution  of  their  Army  there,  1528. — 
Peace  of  Barcelona  and  Cambray,  1529. — The  League  between  the 
Pope,  the  Emperor,  and  the  King  against  the  Heretics. 

WHILE  these  events  were  transpiring  in  Germany, 
Charles  V.  was  at  Madrid,  deliberating  how  he 
should  compel  his  royal  prisoner,  Francis  I.,  whose  army 
was  destroyed  at  Pavia,  to  conclude  a  peace  in  accordance 
with  his  brilliant  victory. 

His  exorbitant  demands  were  clearly  a  mistake.  Had  he 
been  reasonable  a  lasting  peace  might  have  been  secured  ; 
but  he  exacted  conditions  from  the  King  which  he  could  not 
adhere  to,  and  which  were  simply  impracticable  for  any 
king  of  France. 

By  the  peace  of  Madrid,  of  January,  1526,  the  following 
conditions  were  imposed  upon  Francis : — All  French  claims 
upon  Milan,  Naples,  and  Sicily  were  to  cease ;  Flanders  and 
Artois  to  be  restored  to  the  Emperor  ;  the  King  to  marry  the 
Emperor's  sister  as  a  pledge  of  perpetual  alliance  with  him ; 
and  Burgundy  was  to  be  surrendered. 

The  first  two  conditions  were  hard,  the  last  two  absurd. 
The  Emperor  and  the  King  were  natural  enemies  whom  no 
marriage  could  make  into  allies.  Such  a  cession  as  that 
of  Burgundy  could  only  properly  be  asked  or  granted  if 
France  itself  had  been  annihilated.  Francis  had  been  at  war 
for  twenty  years,  and,  though  continually  unsuccessful,  he 
had  always  made  peace  on  better  terms  than  these.  The 
oath  by  which  Francis  confirmed  the  treaty  was  quite  un- 
natural; he  took  it  with  the  criminal  frivolity  which  charac- 


THE  PEACE   OF  MADRID.  107 

terized  the  morals  of  the  sixteenth  century,  for  he  had  even 
beforehand  circulated  a  document  among  his  friends,  in 
which  he  declared  the  oath  about  to  be  extorted  from  him 
to  be  null  and  void. 

One  point  there  was  in  the  treaty  on  which  the  policy  of 
the  parties  might  coincide — in  proceeding  against  the  Turks 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  heretics  who  had  escaped  from  the 
bosom  of  the  holy  Church  on  the  other. 

The  course  European  politics  were  taking  tended  in  the 
same  direction  as  the  reaction  against  the  Reformation 
which  resulted  from  the  horrors  of  the  Peasants'  War. 

In  fact,  the  Emperor's  first  proclamation  after  the  peace  of 
Madrid,  dated  March,  1526,  and  addressed  to  some  of  the 
princes  of  the  empire,  informed  them  that  decided  steps 
were  to  be  immediately  taken  against  heresy.  A  league  of 
the  orthodox  would  be  desirable  as  a  preliminary  step,  but 
the  Emperor  was  himself  about  to  take  the  question  in  hand 
at  Rome. 

Charles  was  then  counting  upon  his  allies,  King  Francis 
and  Pope  Clement  VII.,  but  a  few  weeks  later  he  could  no 
longer  do  so.  On  the  22nd  of  May,  Francis  and  Clement 
had  formed  a  conspiracy  against  the  Emperor  at  Cognac ;  a 
European  war  was  in  prospect ;  and  when,  at  the  Diet  at 
Spire  in  June  and  July  of  the  same  year,  the  question  of  the 
Church  in  Germany  was  again  brought  up,  the  states  were 
justified  in  assuming  that  the  imperial  instructions  against 
reform  and  enforcing  the  Edict  of  Worms  were  superseded 
by  other  events,  and  that  there  could  be  no  longer  any 
serious  intention  of  doing  a  service  to  the  Pope,  whose 
troops  were  already  advancing  against  the  Emperor.  Never- 
theless no  resolution  was  passed  by  vote  of  the  majority. 
There  was  at  first  an  attempt  made  on  both  sides  to  form 
parties,  but  there  was  as  yet  no  sharp  division  into  majority 
and  minority ;  and  the  final  decree  enacted,  in  accordance 
with  the  advice  of  the  Committee,  that  in  the  matter  of 
religion  and  the  Edict  of  Worms  "  every  state  shall  live, 
rule,  and  believe  so  that  it  shall  be  ready  to  answer  for 
itself  before  God  and  his  Imperial  Majesty." 

This  decree  has  had  most  important  results.  Many  things 
occurred  afterwards  to  modify  it,  but  it  was,  in  fact,  the  prin- 
ciple upon  which  the  German  national  Church  and  the 
modern  states  of  Germany  were  developed.  It  is  evident 
that  an  imperial  law  which  asserted  the  autonomy  in  matters 


108  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

of  religion,  not  only  of  every  ruler,  but  of  every  imperial 
city  and  every  imperial  noble,  would  promote  vast  dissen- 
sions; and  it  is  mainly  this  which  has  given  rise  to  the  dictum 
that  the  Reformation  laid  the  foundations  of  the  disruption 
of  Germany,  a  dictum  which  is  regarded  as  a  truism  to  which 
some  assent  as  to  an  undeniable  though  melancholy  fact, 
and  which  others  assert  in  a  tone  of  bitter  reproach. 

The  dictum  is  false  ;  it  is  contradicted  by  history.  The 
disruption  of  the  German  empire  existed  long  before  the 
Reformation  took  place ;  it  was  the  result  of  processes  which 
had  been  going  on  for  centuries,  and  was  by  no  means  the 
effect  of  religious  dissensions.  If  Germany  had  not  been  in 
a  state  of  disruption,  the  history  of  the  German  Reformation 
from  1521-26  would  have  been  quite  other  than  it  was. 
Had  we  had  a  compact  German  state  at  the  time  of  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  the  atrocious  edict  would  never  have  been 
smuggled  in.  No  monarch  of  a  really  united  Germany 
would  have  adopted  a  resolution  which  was  openly  opposed 
to  the  sentiments  of  the  nation  and  to  the  opinion  of  the 
majority  of  its  states,  both  temporal  and  spiritual,  and  which 
it  was  impossible  to  enforce. 

But  it  maybe  justly  said  that  the  Reformation  might  have 
given  a  powerful  momentum  to  national  unity.  If  in  1521 
we  had  had  a  monarch  who  would  have  settled  accounts  with 
Rome,  put  an  end  to  old  sins  in  relation  to  her,  and  at  the 
same  time  had  entered  into  the  greatest  movement  of  ideas 
which  had  ever  agitated  our  nation,  unity  might  have  been 
inaugurated  on  a  firmer  basis  and  a  grander  scale  than  it 
had  been  for  centuries. 

But  the  opportunity  was  lost,  and  never  recurred.  The 
affairs  of  Germany  took  such  a  course  that  destiny  but  once 
offered  this  enticing  opportunity  to  the  Emperor,  and  as  it 
was  not  seized,  it  was  lost  for  ever.  Two  years  later  we  hear 
nothing  more  of  the  Emperor  ;  the  states  decided  for  them- 
selves, and  in  order  to  prevent  dissensions,  agreed  that  the 
pure  doctrine  of  the  gospel  should  be  preached.  Then  came 
the  Revolution ;  the  existence  of  the  reigning  princes  was 
threatened,  first  by  the  nobles  and  then  by  the  peasants, 
but  in  both  contests  the  princes  were  victorious,  and  chose 
to  take  advantage  of  their  victory.  They  had  long  been 
looking  for  a  pretext  for  strengthening  their  power,  and 
embraced  the  opportunity  which  the  Emperor  had  let  slip. 
The  decree  of  Spire  gave  legal  sanction  to  the  attempt,  but 


NATIONAL  DISRUPTION.  IOQ 

this  was  not  the  consequence  of  the  new  doctrine,  but  of 
ancient  political  developments  which  now  had  a  decided 
influence  on  its  fate.  If  this  were  not  so,  the  Reformation 
must  have  occasioned  disruption  everywhere,  whereas  in 
other  countries  we  find  that  it  was  precisely  the  contrary. 

From  this  time  Germany  has  not  deviated  from  this 
course.  Every  country  decides  the  reform  question  in  its 
own  way.  Not  that  free  individual  development  is  permitted ; 
every  country  takes  vigorous  and  sometimes  arbitrary  mea- 
sures, while  in  other  lands  these  are  taken  by  a  central 
power.  The  hopes  of  those  who  thought  that  the  decree  of 
August,  1526,  would  be  a  death-blow  to  the  new  doctrine 
were  utterly  disappointed ;  it  rather  became  the  basis  of  a 
greater  extension  of  it.  Saxony,  Hesse,  Anhalt,  Franconia, 
Liineburg,  East  Friesland,  Schleswig-Holstein,  Silesia,  and 
Prussia  adopted  the  Reformation,  as  did  also  the  important 
imperial  cities  of  Nuremberg,  Augsburg,  Ulm,  Strasburg,  &c. 

The  breach  became  irreparable.  There  was  a  Roman 
Catholic  party  in  South  Germany,  who  gave  up  all  thought 
of  reform,  and  another  party  for  whom  reform  was  an 
accomplished  fact,  and  who  would  no  longer  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  ancient  Church  :  Austria,  Bavaria,  and  the 
South  German  bishoprics  as  a  compact  territory  on  one  side ; 
on  the  other,  less  compactly  grouped,  a  great  part  of  ancient 
Saxony,  the  ancient  Frisian  district,  and  the  eastern  colonies 
of  Germany,  on  what  was  formerly  Slavonic  territory ;  not 
to  mention  the  inhabitants  of  the  imperial  cities  of  the 
North  and  South.  The  results  of  the  decree  of  Spire  began 
to  appear  ;  it  became  more  and  more  impossible  for  the 
ancient  Church  to  regain  her  former  supremacy,  but  it  was 
also  impossible  for  Protestantism  to  gain  undisputed  sway. 
That  the  actual  decision  still  remained  for  some  years  in 
the  balance  is  to  be  explained  by  another  turn  in  the  imperial 
papal  policy. 

It  is  extremely  curious  to  observe  the  attitude  of  the  re- 
spective representatives  of  the  papal  and  imperial  dignity  at 
this  crisis.  While  in  Germany  the  consciences  of  men  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest  were  stirred  to  their  very  depths, 
not  only  were  the  Pope  and  Emperor  strangers  to  any  such 
ideas,  they  acted  against  the  simple  and  natural  dictates  of 
policy.  The  Emperor  was  always  seeking  an  untenable 
alliance  with  the  Pope,  while  repulsing  his  natural  allies  ;  and 
the  Pope  continually  overlooked  the  fact  that  his  alliance 


110  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

with  the  Emperor  against  the  heretics  would  only  advance 
their  cause. 

In  the  peace  of  Madrid  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.  joined 
cause  against  the  innovations  in  the  empire,  and  futile  as 
the  treaty  was  in  all  other  respects,  the  Pope  should  have 
tried  to  grasp  it  by  this  handle  at  any  price. 

If  he  could  have  succeeded  in  keeping  the  allies  to  this, 
it  would  have  been  fearfully  perilous  for  the  German  Re- 
formation. Such  a  consideration,  according  to  the  views  of 
mediaeval  Catholicism,  should  have  been  supreme  with  the 
Pope.  But  Clement  VII.  was  a  Medici,  and  had  been 
schooled  in  the  vacillating  policy  of  the  family,  which  had 
always  induced  them  to  throw  their  weight  into  the  scale 
which  threatened  to  be  found  wanting.  Their  fine  princi- 
pality, with  its  commanding  position  in  the  peninsula,  must 
be  oppressed  neither  by  the  Germans  nor  the  French,  and 
to  this  purely  political  consideration,  which  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  Church,  the  Pope  sacrificed  ecclesiastical 
unity. 

He  was  the  first  to  provoke  war,  and  it  was  a  curse  to  the 
Church  that  her  head  had  no  insight  into  her  real  situation. 

On  the  22nd  of  May,  1526,  the  treaty  of  Cognac  was 
entered  into  between  Clement  VII.  and  Francis  I.  against 
the  Emperor,  whose  supremacy  ever  since  the  battle  of  Pavia 
had  begun  to  be  alarming.  They  tried  to  exact  conditions 
from  the  Emperor  in  favour  of  France  and  Italy  to  which  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  accede,  and  then  to  extort  them 
by  force  of  arms. 

In  this  position  of  affairs  the  Emperor  wrote  a  remarkable 
letter  to  the  cardinals  under  date  of  October  6th,  1526, 
which  is  printed  by  Lanz.  He  had  heard  that  the  Pope  had 
combined  with  the  King  of  France  to  attack  him.  This  was 
the  last  thing  he  should  have  expected.  "  For  I  believe 
there  is  no  prince  more  devoted  to  the  Romish  Church  than 
I;  witness  Parma  and  Piacenza."  He  had  borne  the  bitter 
complaints  of  the  German  states  and  princes  of  the  many 
abuses  in  the  court  of  Rome  into  the  bargain.  "  The  Pope, 
therefore,  does  me  a  very  great  wrong,  when  I  have  done  so 
much  for  his  sake,  and  have  thereby  alienated  the  princes  of 
the  empire  not  a  little."  He  reminds  them  of  the  necessity 
of  peace  at  this  critical  moment  for  the  Church,  and  of  the 
long-promised  council.  "  If  the  Christian  republic  suffers 
harm  in  consequence  of  a  council  not  being  convened  or 


ALLIANCE  AGAINST   THE   EMPEROR.  Ill 

longer  delayed,  I  solemnly  declare  that  I  at  least  am  not  to 
blame  for  it." 

But  these  admonitions  had  no  effect.  Just  when  the 
Emperor  was  offering  his  aid  to  France  and  the  Pope  to  put 
down  the  heretics,  he  received  for  answer  a  declaration  of 
war  from  both.  So,  as  a  commentary  on  the  provisions  in 
the  peace  of  Madrid  against  the  enemies  of  the  Pope,  an 
imperial  army  advanced  towards  Rome  to  call  the  head  of 
the  Church  to  order  with  pikes  and  spears. 

Early  in  1527  a  numerous  army,  such  as  had  not  been 
seen  within  the  memory  of  man,  headed  by  Bourbon  and 
George  Frundsberg,  whose  German  soldiers  marched  with 
real  fanaticism  against  the  Pope,  appeared  on  the  way  to 
Rome.  The  famishing  mercenaries,  among  whom  a  dan- 
gerous mutiny  broke  out  on  the  way,  were  eager  to  pounce 
upon  the  treasures  of  Rome.  On  the  6th  of  May  Bourbon  led 
them  on  to  storm  the  Eternal  City.  Rome  was  defenceless, 
and  was  taken  by  the  Germans  on  the  first  assault.  The 
Pope  had  taken  refuge  at  Engelsburg,  and  refused  all  the 
enemy's  demands,  as  he  was  in  constant  expectation  of 
succour  from  the  French.  The  Spanish  and  German  sol- 
diers then  betook  themselves  to  plunder,  and  fell  upon  the 
treasures  in  the  palaces  and  churches.  The  booty  was 
immense,  but  was  mostly  soon  frittered  away.  The  Ger- 
mans mocked  at  the  sacred  relics  of  Rome,  and  proclaimed 
Luther  as  Pope. 

Charles  V.  was  master  of  the  greater  part  of  St.  Peter's 
patrimony,  and  intended  to  take  permanent  possession 
of  the  States  of  the  Church,  in  order  to  render  the  Pope's 
temporal  policy  innocuous,  when  the  Pope  found  an 
unexpected  ally  in  Henry  VIII.,  and  a  French  army 
under  Lautrec.  subsidised  by  England,  came  to  his  aid. 

The  French  arrived  at  Naples  at  the  beginning  of  1528. 
Fortune  now  seemed  to  favour  the  allies.  The  Imperialists, 
driven  to  the  sea,  could  not,  in  their  perpetual  want  of  money, 
venture  to  incur  any  further  risk,  and  in  the  summer  it 
appeared  as  if  a  great  catastrophe  must  happen  to  the 
imperial  power,  but  at  Naples  fortune  again  turned  the 
scale  in  the  Emperor's  favour.  While,  within  the  city,  the 
Germans,  Italians,  and  Spaniards,  in  spite  of  their  great 
distress,  were  uniting  to  make  a  desperate  resistance,  a 
fearful  pestilence  attacked  the  French  camp  without  the 
walls,  and  so  much  insubordination  ensued,  that  it  prepared 


I  12  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

the  way  for  the  utter  annihilation  of  the  army  without  a 
blow  having  been  struck,  and  some  successful  sallies  of  the 
besieged  gave  it  the  finishing-stroke.  Thus  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  was  as  quickly  lost  to  the  French  as  it  had  been 
won,  and  the  allies  never  obtained  a  success  which  counter- 
balanced this  defeat. 

In  the  summer  of  1529  a  reconciliation  took  place  be- 
tween the  Emperor  and  the  Pope.  By  the  peace  of  Bar- 
celona, of  the  2 gth  of  June,  the  States  of  the  Church,  and 
Florence,  which  had  rebelled  against  him,  were  restored  to 
the  Pope ;  he  also  received  the  assurance  that  the  exter- 
mination of  heresy  should  be  now  vigorously  taken  in  hand. 
In  July  of  the  same  year  the  negotiations  took  place  which 
resulted  in  reconciliation  with  France  at  the  peace  of 
Cambray. 

Charles  V.  conceded  more  than  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  the  success  of  his  arms.  He  gave  up  his  demand 
for  Burgundy,  and  in  consideration  of  a  large  ransom,  re- 
leased the  French  princes  who  were  detained  as  hostages, 
and  no  longer  insisted  on  the  impracticable  conditions  of 
Madrid,  while  Francis  had  to  give  up  his  claims  upon  Italy 
and  his  feudal  sovereignty  in  Flanders  and  Artois.  The 
articles  of  Madrid  against  the  heretics  were  renewed. 

Peace  was  now  restored  to  the  Church  and  empire,  but 
on  condition  that  pestifero  morbo  hczrcticorum  should  at 
length  be  checked.  Three  years  had  indeed  again  passed 
away,  during  which  the  new  doctrine  had  made  great  pro- 
gress, and  churches  had  been  organized  in  accordance  with 
it  all  over  the  country. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Reaction  of  Italian  Affairs  upon  Germany. — Aggravation  of  the  State 
of  Affairs  by  Otto  von  Pack. — Altered  Relation  of  Parties. — The 
Diet  of  Spire  and  the  Protest  of  the  Lutheran  Party,  April,  1529. 
— The  Turks  before  Vienna,  1529. — Diet  of  Augsburg  and  the 
Confession  of  Augsburg,  June  25th,  1530. — Threats  a»ainst  the 
Protestants ;  their  first  Meeting  and  League  at  Schmalkald,  De- 
cember, 1530 — March,  1531. — Danger  from  the  Turks,  and  the 
Religious  Peace  of  Nuremberg,  July  23rd,  1532. 

IT  cannot  be  denied  that  the  position  of  the  adherents  of  the 
new  doctrine  was  by  no  means  safe  or  enviable.  They 
had  taken  advantage  of  the  decree  of  1526,  which,  how- 
ever, according  to  the  traditions  of  the  Diet,  was  no  decree 
at  all,  and  the  question  was  whether  the  Emperor  would  not 
reverse  it  as  soon  as  it  was  in  his  power  to  do  so  ;  they 
would  then  at  once  lose  all  legal  standing,  and  be  con- 
fronted with  an  inimical  power. 

The  dreaded  alliance  between  the  Emperor,  the  Pope, 
and  the  King  had  just  been  concluded,  and  it  was  not  easy 
to  see  how  the  Lutherans  could  stand  against  it. 

The  adherents  of  the  Reformation  had  followed  the 
course  of  events  in  Italy  with  great  anxiety.  It  is  evident 
that  they  were  in  a  state  of  excitement  from  the  alarm  occa- 
sioned by  some  communications  from  Otto  von  Pack. 
Even  in  1528,  when  the  war  was  near  its  close,  outrages 
were  feared,  and  the  most  extraordinary  stories  gained 
credit. 

Otto  von  Pack,  a  dismissed  minister  of  Duke  George  of 
Saxony,  had  come  to  the  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse,  and 
told  him  that  an  infamous  plot  was  brewing  against  him  and 
the  Elector  of  Saxony.  He  stated  that  the  Catholic  Elec- 
tors of  Mayence  and  Brandenburg,  the  Dukes  of  Saxony 
and  Bavaria,  and  the  Bishops  of  Salzburg,  Bamberg,  and 
Wiirzburg,  with  King  Ferdinand  at  their  head,  intended  to 

i 


I  14  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

make  a  sudden  attack  upon  them,  to  dispossess  them  of 
their  lands,  and  draw  over  their  subjects  to  the  reactionary 
Catholic  party.  He  brought  forward  written  proofs  of  it, 
and  both  the  Landgrave  and  the  Elector  gave  credit  to  it. 
Yet  Pack  was  an  adventurer  whom  it  was  not  difficult  to 
suspect  of  the  falsification  of  documents,  and  there  was 
nothing  in  the  character  of  the  accused  princes,  obstinate 
adherents  of  the  old  faith  as  they  were,  to  justify  the  opinion 
that  they  were  likely  to  make  a  nocturnal  attack  upon  their 
nearest  kinsfolk,  and  drive  them  from  their  possessions  and 
subjects.  It  was,  however,  the  circumstances  of  the  times 
which  gave  rise  to  fears  of  this  sort. 

In  the  year  1529  one  blow  quickly  followed  another: 
first,  a  dispatch  from  the  Emperor,  in  which  he  coolly  re- 
ferred to  the  Edict  of  Worms  of  1521,  as  if  nothing  fresh 
had  happened  since  ;  then  the  altered  attitude  of  the  Diet ; 
the  reconciliation  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope, 
which  had  been  publicly  confirmed  ;  and  finally  the  return 
of  the  Emperor  himself,  who  now  came  as  a  mighty  ruler, 
who  had  been  most  successful  in  war,  had  twice  humbled 
France,  had  conquered  and  then  restored  Italy,  and  who 
now,  in  the  height  of  his  power  and  flower  of  his  age,  was 
justified  in  imagining  that  he  had  but  to  command  to  attain 
all  that  he  desired. 

The  first  signs  of  the  change  were  the  imperial  warnings 
to  the  Protestant  states  that  in  the  spring  the  Emperor 
would  conclude  peace,  and  put  the  penalties  in  force  against 
Luther  and  his  followers.  This  was  accompanied  by  threats 
or  flattery,  according  to  circumstances  ;  the  smaller  states 
were  threatened,  and  a  tone  of  respect  adopted  towards  the 
larger. 

On  the  2ist  of  February,  1529,  the  Diet  assembled  at 
Spire. 

The  Emperor's  plan  was  contained  in  an  advice,  the  pur- 
port of  which  was  as  follows  : — The  edict  of  1521  is  to  be 
held  as  still  in  force ;  the  later  ones,  especially  that  of  1526, 
as  null  and  void.  Peace,  which  an  attempt  had  been  made 
to  purchase  by  concessions,  had  not  been  secured,  nor  any 
restriction  put  upon  the  spread  of  the  new  doctrine;  it 
was  therefore  best  to  return  to  the  edict  of  1521,  which 
had  been  illegally  departed  from.  This  was  the  decided 
proposal  of  the  imperial  commissioner  on  the  i5th  of 
March. 


THE  DIET  OF  SPIRE.  115 

It  was  now  for  the  first  time  probable  that  this  resolution 
would  be  carried  by  a  majority.  There  had  been  no  pros- 
pect of  it  in  1523,  and  none  in  1526,  but  the  change  was  no 
longer  dubious.  The  mediating  princes  who  had  before 
counselled  both  parties  to  peace,  now  went  over  to  the 
Emperor's  side.  The  final  decree  enacted,  in  accordance 
with  the  Emperor's  advice,  that  "  whoever  has  hitherto 
acted  on  the  edict  shall  continue  to  do  so.  In  those  dis- 
tricts where  it  has  not  been  observed  no  further  innovations 
shall  be  made,  and  no  one  shall  be  prevented  from  cele- 
brating mass." 

This  sounded  milder  and  more  tolerant  than  it  was  meant 
to  be.*  Those  whom  it  concerned  did  not  for  a  moment 
doubt  its  meaning.  But  during  the  Diet  there  was  an  evi- 
dent desire  to  proceed  as  peaceably  as  possible,  and  to 
avoid  exasperating  the  people.  The  majority  informed  the 
minority,  almost  with  regret,  that  the  decision  was  unavoid- 
able ;  the  minority,  with  all  due  respect,  regretted  that  they 
could  not  acknowledge  it. 

On  the  i gth  of  April  they  entered  a  protest  against  the 
final  decree  of  the  Diet ;  on  the  22nd  an  appeal ;  and  in 
both  cases  they  took  their  stand  upon  the  modern  principle 
that  religious  matters  could  not  be  decided  by  majority 
and  minority,  but  only  by  the  conscience.  They  desire 
that  the  decree  of  1526  shall  be  held  valid,  for  otherwise 
peace  can  scarcely  be  maintained.  They  cannot  approve 
adherence  to  the  Edict  of  Worms,  because  they  would 
thereby  condemn  their  own  doctrines.  They  are  ready  to 
render  obedience  to  the  Emperor  in  all  things  wherein  it  is 
due,  but  these  are  things  "  which  concern  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  salvation  of  the  soul  of  every  one  of  us,  and  in 
which,  according  to  God's  commands,  and  for  the  sake  of 
our  own  consciences,  it  is  our  bounden  duty,  before  all 
things,  to  have  respect  to  the  Lord  our  God ; "  and  they 
hope  the  Emperor  "  will  kindly  excuse  this  refusal."  The 
decree  of  Spire  of  1526  can  only,  "in  accordance  with 
propriety,  reason,  and  law,  be  annulled  by  a  unanimous 
resolution,  and  such  this  was  not ;  but  apart  from  that,  in 
matters  relating  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of 
our  souls,  every  one  of  us  must  stand  before  and  give 
account  of  himself  to  God." 

•  See  Ranke. 


Il6  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

This  protest  was  signed  by  John  of  Saxony,  George  of 
Brandenburg,  Ernest  of  Liineburg,  Philip  of  Hesse,  Wolf- 
gang of  Anhalt ;  and  then  by  the  representatives  of  fourteen 
cities — Strasburg,  Nuremberg,  Ulm,  Costnitz,  Lindau, 
Memmingen,  Kempten,  Nordlingen,  Heilbronn,  Reut- 
lingen,  Isny,  St.  Gall,  Weissenburg,  and  Windsheim. 

The  position  of  affairs  was  materially  aggravated  by  this 
step.  If  the  dreaded  alliance  now  took  place  between  the 
great  powers  and  the  Pope,  the  gravest  and  most  alarming 
complications  must  be  looked  for.  The  Emperor  made 
himself  ready  to  advance  with  an  army  to  Germany.  He 
had  just  assured  himself  at  Barcelona  and  Cambray  of  the 
assistance  of  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  France,  when  the 
capital  of  his  Austrian  dominions  was  menaced  by  the  most 
powerful  army  of  Turks  that  had  ever  been  seen  on  the 
Danube. 

Suleiman,  the  last  great  martial  ruler  of  the  Osmanli, 
with  a  just  conception  of  the  fundamental  idea  of  a  state 
like  Turkey,  well  knew  that  it  was  only  amidst  active  war- 
fare and  conquest  that  such  a  people  could  be  kept  in  a 
healthy  condition,  and  he  poured  his  immense  army — it  was 
computed  at  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men — like  a 
national  migration  over  the  German  possessions  of  Charles  V. 
The  old  Osman  spirit  of  warlike  propaganda  had  revived. 
All  Christendom  was  to  be  subdued  by  the  sword  of  the 
Prophet,  and  the  moment  seemed  favourable.  The  Church 
was  torn  by  bitter  dissensions,  just  then  coming  to  a  deci- 
sive issue,  and  the  monarch  through  whose  dominions  their 
path  lay  was  just  making  ready  to  strike  a  decisive  blow  at 
the  apostates. 

It  was  an  anxious  moment,  not  only  for  the  Emperor,  but 
for  all  the  West.  However  little  credit  might  be  given  to 
the  Turks  for  power  to  do  much  permanent  mischief  in  the 
invaded  countries,  yet  the  danger  of  seeing  the  culture  of 
the  West  even  temporarily  overrun  by  the  Eastern  bar- 
barians was  quite  enough  to  throw  all  that  divided 
Christendom  into  the  shade,  and,  menaced  by  a  common 
enemy,  to  cause  it  to  unite  its  forces  for  a  vigorous 
resistance. 

The  terrible  danger  was  averted  by  the  heroic  defence  of 
Vienna,  and  by  the  noble  enthusiasm  by  which,  in  spite  of 
ecclesiastical  schisms,  Germany  was  animated.  It  was  clear 
that  on  this  question  there  were  no  parties  in  Germany. 


THE  TURKS   BEFORE  VIENNA.  117 

How  angry  the  Reform  party  had  been  over  the  abuse 
which  the  Curia  had  made  of  the  threatened  Turkish  war ! 
But  now  that  the  danger  was  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood, 
they  preached  most  zealously,  Luther  himself  at  their  head, 
in  favour  of  combined  resistance  to  the  enemy  as  subjects  of 
the  Emperor ;  and  among  the  princes  who  were  foremost  in 
making  sacrifices  for  the  cause  were  the  leading  adherents 
of  the  new  doctrine,  especially  the  Landgrave  Philip  of 
Hesse. 

Vienna  held  out  until  the  Sultan  perceived  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  maintain  his  army  in  the  exhausted 
country,  and  with  the  remnant  which  alone,  if  he  lingered, 
famine  and  the  winter  season  would  leave  him,  to  oppose 
the  brave  troops  which  were  arriving  from  all  sides. 

After  an  attack  on  the  walls  of  Vienna  which  utterly 
failed,  on  the  i4th  of  October,  without  being  exactly 
beaten,  he  was  compelled  to  retire,  and  this  was,  in  fact,  the 
most  humiliating  defeat  which  he  could  have  suffered.  He 
had  advanced  so  far  unhindered,  but  he  was  forced  to  with- 
draw without  any  decisive  engagement.  This  was  a  severe 
reverse  for  the  Turkish  power. 

The  Emperor  was  thus  unexpectedly  relieved  from  deep 
anxiety.  In  those  anxious  September  days,  when  the 
Grand  Turk  had  drawn  up  his  forces  in  Charles's  eastern 
dominions,  and  the  fate,  not  of  Vienna  alone,  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  troops  in  his  ill-fortified  capital,  he  might  well 
be  in  doubt  whether  he  ought  not  to  forget  Pope  and 
Church,  heretics  and  all,  and  go  to  the  aid  of  his  threatened 
heritage ;  but  relief  had  come  without  his  help,  Vienna  was 
saved,  the  onslaught  of  the  Turks  had  collapsed  at  the  most 
critical  juncture,  his  star  was  once  more  in  the  ascendant, 
and  higher  than  ever  before. 

Everything  had  been  propitious  to  him.  By  a  successful 
campaign  he  had  obtained  peace  with  the  Pope  and  the 
King  of  France.  He  had  vanquished  the  greatest  military 
power  in  Europe;  the  laurels  of  Francis  I.  had  faded  before 
the  martial  glory  of  the  young  Emperor;  the  Grand  Turk, 
after  some  brilliant  successes  at  first,  had  hastily  retreated, 
and  now  he  was  only  opposed  by  the  handful  of  German 
princes  and  cities  who  had  protested  at  Spire  in  1529. 

They  were,  it  was  true,  resolved  to  sacrifice  everything  to 
their  convictions  ;  but  how  insignificant  did  their  power 
appear  compared  with  that  of  the  Emperor !  And  besides 


I  I  8  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

this,  they  were  too  divided  and  disunited  to  withstand  a 
policy  which  now  for  the  first  time  seemed  to  have  a 
definite  object  in  view. 

Another  attempt  at  conversion  had  been  projected  by  the 
allies  at  Barcelona ;  if  that  did  not  succeed,  "  the  insult 
offered  to  Christ"  should  be  avenged  by  all  possible  means. 
The  Protestants  were  proof  against  conversion  by  threats, 
intimidation,  or  flattery;  but  how  would  it  be  if  the 
Emperor's  threats  were  actually  carried  out? 

On  this  point  they  were  not  agreed.  Some  had  con- 
scientious scruples  against  vigorous  self-defence.  There 
was  at  first  a  conflict  of  duties,  of  which  at  a  later  period 
we  hear  no  more.  While  the  worldly  element  in  the  party 
had  no  doubt  that  force  must  be  met  by  force,  the  theolo- 
gical leader  of  the  party,  Martin  Luther,  adhered  firmly  to 
the  opinion  which  he  had  always  maintained,  that  spiritual 
results  can  only  be  effected  by  spiritual  means,  that  the 
Word  would  only  be  established  by  the  Word.  "  The 
authorities,"  he  says  on  the  2 8th  of  November,  1529, 
"  are  not  to  be  withstood  by  violence,  but  by  confession  of 
the  truth ;  if  they  are  converted  by  it,  well ;  if  not,  thou  art  ex- 
cused and  sufferest  for  God's  sake.  We  had  ten  times  better 
be  dead  than  have  it  on  our  conscience  that  by  our  means 
our  gospel  had  been  the  occasion  of  blood  and  violence." 

An  armed  resistance  to  the  Emperor  appeared  to  him, 
with  his  mediaeval  views,  to  be  a  criminal  rebellion.  It  was 
only  with  great  reluctance  and  under  pressure  of  necessity 
that  he  gave  up  his  respect  for  the  imperial  power  and  his 
allegiance  as  a  subject.  It  is  not  easy  for  us  to  form  a  just 
idea  of  his  views  on  this  point.  The  greatness  of  soul  which 
they  evince  will  be  obvious  to  all,  but  it  will  also  be  obvious 
that  the  views  of  a  theologian  on  politics — that  is,  on  the 
subject  of  resistance  to  tangible  forces — cannot  be  taken 
as  a  rule  of  action. 

To  these  differences  between  the  men  of  action  and  the 
men  of  doctrine  a  theological  controversy  was  added.  It 
referred  especially  to  the  dogma  of  the  Supper. 

As  early  as  1519  Luther  had  decidedly  dissented  from  the 
Romish  view  of  this  sacrament.*  He  rejected  first  the 
withholding  of  the  cup,  and  then  the  idea  of  sacrifice  which 

*  See  his  "  Sermon  vom  Hochw.  Sacrament  dis  heil  wahren 
Leichnams  Christi,"  Erlangen  Ausgabe. 


TRANSUBSTANTIATION.  II 9 

was  bound  up  with  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine ;  and,  in 
order  that  the  Supper  might  not  be  regarded  as  a  good  work, 
he  rejected  also  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation. 

Instead  of  a  direct  transformation,  he  adopted  the  idea  of 
a  sort  of  mystical  presence  of  the  Redeemer  in  the  sacra- 
ment ;  and  this,  according  to  his  teaching,  had  the  same  effect 
as  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.* 

In  Switzerland  another  view  had  developed  itself,  Zwingli 
could  not  believe  in  either  of  the  two  miracles  ;  with  his 
unimpassioned  way  of  looking  at  things,  he  could  not  un- 
derstand these  mystical  ideas ;  he  took  the  words,  "  This  is 
my  body,"  to  mean,  "This  signifies  my  body;"  and  he  ad- 
duced a  number  of  passages  in  support  of  his  view,  such  as 
"  I  am  the  vine,"  which  must  obviously  be  explained  in  this 
manner.  These  were  the  differences  which  played  a  part  in 
the  world's  history,  and  divided  the  Protestant  camp  when 
absolute  unity  was  more  essential  than  ever. 

In  1529  warnings  were  not  wanting  from  those  who,  with 
just  political  insight,  perceived  that  it  would  be  disastrous 
for  the  cause  of  reform  if  the  free  study  of  the  Scriptures 
was  begun  with  dogmatical  disputes,  and  if  on  the  most 
vital  questions  the  party  should  divide.  It  was  therefore 
advised  that  some  accommodating  formula  be  sought  for. 
The  Landgrave  Philip  took  the  greatest  interest  in  it,  for 
personally  he  was  more  inclined  to  the  views  of  Zwingli  than 
to  those  of  his  own  theologians,  and  Melancthon,  Bucer,  and 
others  did  all  »they  could  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation 
with  the  Swiss,  but  in  vain. 

At  length,  at  Michaelmas,  1529,  a  theological  conference 
was  arranged  at  Marburg,  where,  at  the  instigation  of  Philip, 
the  Swiss  and  Saxon  theologians  met  in  order  to  agree  upon 
a  formula.  On  some  important  points  they  came  to  an 
understanding,  but  on  the  mystery  of  the  real  presence, 
which  was  with  Luther  the  main  question,  he  prevented 
their  coming  to  any  agreement.  He  kept  to  the  words 
which  he  wrote  on  the  table  before  him,  "  This  is  my  body." 
The  passionate  intolerant  spirit  of  the  monk,  of  unyielding 
ancient  scholasticism  which  could  brook  no  opposition,  was 
aroused  in  him ;  the  simple  temperate  character  of  the  Swiss 
Reformer  was  repugnant  to  him,  and  he  never  overcame  his 
distrust  of  him  and  his  doctrines.  Luther  refused  all  inter- 

*  Schenkel,  Wesen  des  Protestantismus. 


120  THE   REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

course  with  him,  and  allowed  himself  to  say  many  things 
which  he  could  not  maintain,  and  which  he  himself  regretted 
on  reflection.  Zwingli  and  his  followers  preserved  a  far  more 
gentle  and  conciliatory  tone  towards  him. 

Upper  Germany,  Swabia,  and  Switzerland  adopted  Zwin- 
gli's  view.  Some  of  the  imperial  cities  were  inclined  to 
it,  and  Philip  of  Hesse  did  not  conceal  that  he  thought  it 
more  natural  and  tenable,  though  he  was  prudent  enough 
not  to  press  it. 

Protestantism  was  thus  divided  not  only  on  the  great 
question  of  resistance  to  the  Catholic  reaction,  but  divided 
amongst  itself.  There  were  two  distinct  camps,  either  of 
which  might  perhaps  say,  in  the  first  moment  of  danger, 
"  What  are  the  others  to  us  ?  Let  us  wait  and  see  what 
happens." 

In  May,  1530,  Charles  came  to  Germany.  He  had  just 
put  the  finishing-stroke  at  Bologna  to  the  peace  which  was 
to  reconstitute  Italy,  and  had  confirmed  his  reconciliation 
with  the  Pope  by  his  solemn  coronation.  There  also,  doubt- 
less, the  final  conferences  took  place  about  the  Church  and 
the  heretics.  Judging  from  circumstances,  we  may  conclude 
that  Pope  and  Emperor  were  agreed  that  the  obstinate 
apostates  must  be  made  to  return  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Church.  But  there  their  opinions  diverged.  Clement  VII. 
and  his  successors  thought  that  sufficient.  The  only  reform 
of  which  they  had  any  idea  was  the  restoration  of  the  lost 
unity  under  their  rule,  by  whatever  means  it  might  be 
brought  about.  But  Charles  V.  was  of  opinion  that  when 
the  outward  breaches  were  restored,  internal  security  should 
be  given  by  a  general  council  which  should  accede  to 
the  justifiable  demands  for  Church  reform.  If  this  was 
the  alternative,  the  Pope  would  sooner  submit  to  the 
continuance  of  heresy,  to  the  defection  from  the  Church 
of  one  hundred  thousand  souls,  than  consent  to  a  repetition 
of  the  stormy  Councils  of  Costnitz  and  Basle,  which  haunted 
the  memory  of  the  Curia  like  spectres. 

Then  came  the  Diet  of  Augsburg.  Germany  had  not 
witnessed  so  brilliant  a  one  for  centuries.  The  German 
empire  shone  once  more  in  its  mediaeval  splendour.  And 
how  different  was  the  Emperor's  arrival  now  from  that  when 
he  came  up  the  Rhine  to  Worms !  He  was  then  known 
only  as  Maximilian's  grandson ;  now  the  world  was  ringing 
with  his  exploits.  Twice  he  had  humbled  the  pride  of  the 


THE   DIET   OF  AUGSBURG.  121 

conqueror  of  Marignano,  he  had  compelled  both  Francis  and 
the  Pope  to  enter  into  treaty  with  him,  his  generals  and 
statesmen  had  been  everywhere  victorious,  and  the  glory  of 
their  deeds  was  reflected  upon  him.  It  was  perfectly  natural 
that  in  the  pride  of  these  successes,  and  after  France  and 
Italy  had  submitted  to  him,  he  should  imagine  that  he  could 
adjust  the  affairs  of  Germany  with  a  word. 

He  made  his  entry  into  Augsburg  with  extraordinary 
pomp.  He  was  not  fond  of  show  in  general,  but  this  time 
he  wanted  to  dazzle  men's  eyes.  He  wished  that  both 
friend  and  foe  should  feel  that  he  was  Emperor ;  that,  in  the 
old  sense  of  the  word,  he  was  ruler  of  the  world  and 
guardian  of  the  Church  ;  and  when  he  was  solemnly  brought 
in  by  the  princes  of  the  empire  who  had  loyally  gone  forth 
to  meet  him,  his  first  act  was  to  summon  to  his  presence 
the  protesting  princes  of  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  Liineburg, 
and  Hesse. 

In  a  not  unfriendly,  but  very  decided  tone,  he  informed 
them  through  his  brother  that  the  toleration  of  the  Lutheran 
preaching  and  the  observance  of  the  modern  forms  of  wor- 
ship must  cease ;  the  rest  would  follow.  He  had  no  idea 
that  it  would  not  suffice  to  issue  this  command ;  the  princes 
would  submit,  as  far  greater  powers  had  submitted.  There 
was  no  fear  then  of  political  opposition  ;  it  was  different 
in  the  next  generation,  but  this  one  was  free  from  all  suspicion 
of  disloyalty  to  the  imperial  house. 

Frederic  the  Wise  had  been  foremost  among  the  pro- 
moters of  the  election  of  Charles  as  emperor  ;  his  successor 
John,  and  Philip  of  Hesse,  had  distinguished  themselves 
by  their  zealous  and  faithful  services  against  the  Turks  ; 
and  the  old  Margrave,  George  of  Brandenburg-Ansbach, 
had  grown  grey  in  the  Emperor's  service,  whom,  with 
the  dutiful  spirit  of  a  vassal,  he  always  regarded  as  his 
supreme  lord.  Nothing  but  the  gravest  questions  of  con- 
science could  induce  such  men  to  resist  their  imperial 
master. 

They  unanimously  declared,  and  as  decidedly  as  he  had 
demanded  obedience,  that  they  could  not  obey ;  these  were 
matters  of  conscience,  and  in  matters  of  conscience  the 
Emperor's  mandate  had  no  power.  The  Landgrave  Philip 
began  at  once  to  prove  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
from  St.  Augustine  and  the  New  Testament,  but  that  was 
an  aspect  of  the  business  with  which  the  Emperor  was  not 


122  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

at  home,  and  he  impatiently  and  angrily  interrupted  him  by 
reiterating  his  command.  The  aged  Margrave  of  Branden- 
burg then  threw  himself  on  his  knees  before  him,  and 
exclaimed,  "  I  would  sooner  lose  my  head  than  God's 
Word." 

This  moved  the  Emperor  deeply.  His  well-known  answer, 
"  Dear  Prince,  no  heads  off"  (Lieber  Furst,  nicht  Kopfe  ab),* 
implies  that  he  shuddered  at  the  precipices  to  which  this 
path  might  lead  him. 

Thus  the  first  assault,  which  he  had  hoped  would  have 
been  enough  to  intimidate  the  princes,  was  repulsed ;  the 
Lutheran  service  was  solemnly  celebrated  in  the  quarters, 
so  called,  of  the  princes  and  the  lodgings  of  the  wealthy 
patricians ;  and  when,  on  the  following  day,  there  was  a 
procession  of  the  festival  of  Corpus  Christi,  the  protesting 
princes  declined  the  invitation  to  attend  it.  So  little  had 
the  Emperor  been  able  to  accomplish  with  the  professors 
of  the  new  doctrine,  even  with  his  personal  presence  and 
all  the  pomp  of  his  retinue. 

The  Emperor  then  desired  that  an  abstract  of  the  differ- 
ences between  the  two  doctrines  should  be  laid  before  him. 
They  were  prepared  for  this  in  the  circle  of  the  allied  princes ; 
they  had  been  preparing  for  it  ever  since  the  Diet  had  been 
convened ;  and  in  a  very  short  time  a  statement  of  the 
doctrinal  differences  was  committed  to  paper,  and  handed 
to  the  Emperor  on  the  25th  of  June,  1530.  This  was  after- 
wards called  the  Confession  of  Augsburg. 

The  differences  between  the  old  doctrine  and  the  new 
were  unfolded  in  this  document  as  mildly  and  dispas- 
sionately as  possible,  and  the  teaching  of  justification  in 
the  latter,  as  might  be  expected  from  Melancthon,  was 
delicately  and  skilfully  explained. 

This  was  answered  by  the  Roman  Catholic  theologians 
of  the  other  side  who  had  accompanied  their  princes,  as  the 
Protestants  had  theirs.  Luther  was  not  present.  As  under 
sentence  of  excommunication  he  would  not  give  the  chal- 
lenge of  appearing  in  person  in  the  place  where  the  validity 
of  the  ban  was  to  be  discussed ;  but  he  was  at  Coburg,  and 
carried  on  a  brisk  correspondence  with  his  party. 

The  negotiations  set  on  foot  by  the  Emperor  did  not 
lead  to  any  reconciliation.  Besides  the  wide  differences 

•  Ranke. 


THE   LEAGUE   OF   SCHMALKALD.  123 

between  the  parties,  the  Emperor  was  partly  tc  blame  foi 
this,  for  though  he  wished  to  mediate,  he  would  not  enter 
into  any  discussion  of  the  question  of  conscience  ;  and 
though  he  was  less  violent  in  his  opinions  than  his  spiritual 
and  temporal  advisers,  as  guardian  of  the  Church  he  ex- 
pected blind  obedience;  and  the  most  favourable  terms  he 
could  propose  were  that  until  he  should  arrange  the  pro- 
mised council  with  Rome,  the  Protestants  should  submit 
to  the  Pope  ! 

The  final  decree  of  the  Diet  stated,  with  offensive  seventy, 
that  the  Protestants  would  have  till  the  next  spring  to  con- 
sider whether  they  would  voluntarily  return  ;  and  the  Emperor 
added  that  if  they  did  not  accept  this  decree,  measures 
must  be  taken  for  the  extermination  of  this  sect  without 
delay. 

Under  the  impression  of  these  threats,  at  Christmas, 
1530,  the  Protestant  princes  assembled  for  conference  at 
Schmalkald.  Their  first  object  was  to  determine  what  posi- 
tion they  should  take  towards  the  imperial  court,  should 
steps  be  taken  to  carry  out  the  Augsburg  decree,  and  it 
resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  armed  League  of  Schmalkald 
in  March  of  the  following  year. 

They  had  previously  come  to  an  agreement  with  Luther 
on  the  question  of  resistance,  should  it  become  necessary. 
It  was  not  without  a  struggle  that  he  consented  that  the 
Protestants  should  have  the  right  of  self-defence. 

The  execution  of  the  decree  of  the  Diet,  announced  foi 
the  spring  of  1531,  did  not  take  place.  If,  in  spite  of  the 
advice  of  Loysa,  who  said  of  the  heretics  that  "  it  was  not 
a  question  of  saving  the  souls  of  the  dogs,  but  of  compelling 
their  bodies  to  obedience,"  they  had  hesitated  to  proceed 
against  them  in  July  and  August,  1530,  when  they  were  not 
a  united  body,  there  was  much  more  reason  to  hesitate  now 
that  they  were  so,  especially  as  the  situation  of  affairs  was 
also  changed. 

The  peace  with  Erance  showed  itself  to  be  more  than 
insecure  ;  the  Turks  were  preparing  to  avenge  their  disgrace 
in  1529;  the  Emperor's  hereditary  foes  were  busy  both  in 
the  East  and  the  West.  Would  the  empire  itself  be  entirely 
at  his  disposal  if  he  proceeded  to  punish  the  Protestants  ? 

His  cherished  scheme,  that  his  brother  Ferdinand  should 
be  elected  King  of  Germany,  met  with  opposition,  even  in 
the  Catholic  camp.  The  house  of  Bavaria  especially,  which 


124  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

had  secretly  hoped  to  attain  this  dignity  for  itself,  complained 
of  the  undue  supremacy  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and 
afterwards  made  proposals  to  come  to  an  understanding 
with  the  League  of  Schmalkald.  If  Charles,  therefore, 
entered  into  a  conflict  with  the  Protestants,  he  would  have 
not  only  his  enemies  from  without  to  fear,  but  must  look 
for  opposition — or  at  all  events  could  hope  for  no  assistance 
— from  the  Catholic  princes  of  his  own  camp. 

Thus  everything  concurred  to  incline  him  to  peace.  He 
had  been  seriously  thinking  of  a  peace  since  the  summer  of 
1531  ;  negotiations  were  opened,  and  all  prospect  having 
disappeared  of  coming  to  any  peaceable  settlement  with  the 
Turks,  on  the  23rd  of  July,  1532,  the  peace  of  Nuremberg 
was  concluded,  in  which  both  parties  made  concessions  in 
order  to  unite  in  vigorous  resistance  against  the  Turks. 

The  finest  army  which  the  united  forces  of  Christendom 
had  ever  assembled  marched  against  the  Turks,  who  did 
not  venture  on  any  decisive  engagement.  After  several 
minor  defeats  they  evacuated  the  field  without  a  battle,  as 
in  1529. 


PART  II. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  THE  OTHER  GERMANIC 

STATES;    IN    SWITZERLAND,    DENMARK,    SWEDEN, 

AND  ENGLAND. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.* 

Early  Life  and  Mental  Development  of  Ulrich  Zwingli,  1484-1519. — 
Study  of  the  Classics. — Curate  at  Glarus,  1506-16. — Study  of  the 
New  Testament. — Sermon  against  the  Desertion  of  their  Country 
by  the  Swiss. — Labours  at  Einsiedeln,  1516-18. — Call  to  Zurich. 
— The  Reformation  at  Zurich,  15^-25. — Zwingli's  Sermons  in 
the  Great  Cathedral. — Decree  of  the  Council  of  1520. — The  Sixty- 
seven  Articles  of  1523. — Progress  of  Reform. — Reformed  Zurich 
and  Switzerland  in  1526-31. 

EARLY  LIFE  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
ULRICH  ZWINGLI. 

WE   have   already  alluded  to  Ulrich  Zwingli  on   the 
occasion  of  the  religious  conference  at  Marburg, 
and  shall  now  make  closer  acquaintance  with  him. 

The  suspicious  dislike  with  which  Luther  regarded  him, 
and  which  prevented  any  intimacy  between  them,  was  also 
mentioned. 

They  were  indeed  as  widely  different  in  character,  origin, 

*  Bullinger,  Reformations  Geschichte  Frauenf.,  1838.  Hottinger, 
Helvet.  Kirchengeschichte,  1708.  L.  Wirz,  Neuere  Helvet.  Kirchen- 
geschichte,  Zurich,  1813.  Joh.  v.  Miiller's  und  Glutz-Blotzheim's 
Geschichte  Schweiz.  Eidgenossenschaft,  fortgesetz  von  Hottinger, 
Zurich,  1825.  Ulr.  Zwingli  Opera,  1544,  und  Zwingli's  Werke. 
Herausg.  von  Schuler  und  Schulthess,  Zurich,  1828.  Zwingli's  Leben 
von  Hess,  Zurich,  1811.  Sigwart,  Ulr.  Zwingli,  Hamburg,  1855. 
Roder,  Ulrich  Zwingli,  St.  Gallen,  1855. 


126       THE  REFORMATION  IN   SWITZERLAND. 

and  education  as  two  men  between  whom  there  was  any 
mental  relationship  well  could  be. 

They  were  both  the  sons  of  peasants ;  but  the  parents  of 
one  are  so  poor  that,  with  all  their  laudable  ambition  to 
make  something  out  of  their  talented  son,  they  are  not  able 
to  educate  him  without  aid  from  strangers ;  the  parents  of 
the  other  are  well-to-do,  respectable  people,  whose  children 
have  no  need  to  sing  for  their  bread.  The  childhood  of  the 
one  is  rich  in  bitter  experiences — he  was  often  obliged  "  to 
suffer  and  hold  his  peace ; "  the  other  grew  up  as  the  child 
of  the  chief  man  of  his  native  village,  and  early  learnt  to 
ieel  and  act  with  the  independence  of  a  young  republican  of 
good  standing.  The  monkish  melancholy  of  the  one  leads 
him  to  adopt  a  monastic  life,  the  other  takes  a  keen  and 
lively  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  ;  the  one  becomes  a 
disciple  of  the  mystics  and  the  fathers  of  the  Church,  the  other 
of  the  Humanists  and  the  sages  of  antiquity.  Both  leave  the 
Church,  but  the  one  amidst  conflicts  which  the  other  never 
knew — Luther,  because  he  was  more  true  to  the  Church 
than  she  was  to  herself;  Zwingli,  because,  almost  like  a 
Humanist  critic,  he  compared  the  false  Church  with  the  true, 
and  found  their  differences  irreconcilable. 

Ulrich  Zwingli  was  born  on  the  ist  of  January,  1484,  at 
Wildhaus,  in  the  district  of  Toggenburg,  and  was  the  son  of 
the  magistrate  (Amtmann)  of  the  little  community.  Insig- 
nificant as  the  little  commonwealth  was,  its  inhabitants  bore 
a  sturdy,  independent  character.  Under  the  dreaded  Crosier 
of  St.  Gall,  they  had  freed  themselves  from  the  burdens  of  the 
feudal  system,  andZwingli's  father  had  been  their  courageous 
spokesman.  The  straightforward  simplicity,  cool  practical 
sense,  and  ready  wit  of  a  simple  race  of  mountaineers  per- 
vaded the  house  in  which  the  future  Reformer  grew  up,  like 
a  fresh  Alpine  breeze.  He  never  knew  anything  of  the 
tendency  to  mysticism  which  early  weighed  upon  Luther's 
soul.  He  received  his  first  instruction  from  his  uncle,  who 
was  Dean  at  Wesen,  and  then  went  to  Basle  and  Berne,  in 
order  to  acquire  the  elements  of  classical  learning. 

In  free  Switzerland,  that  connecting-link  between  Italy 
and  North  Germany,  the  Humanistic  studies  had  early  taken 
root,  and  had  given  rise  to  a  decided  ecclesiastical  liberality. 
This  had  great  influence  on  Zwingli's  early  culture. 

Heinrich  Wolfin,  or  Lupulus,  as  he  called  himself,  the 
talented  founder  of  the  classical  schools  in  Switzerland,  was 


ULRICH  ZWINGLI.  127 

Zwingli's  instructor  at  Berne,  and  his  teacher  and  model  at 
Basle  was  the  courageous  theologian,  Thomas  Wittenbach, 
who  ventured  openly  to  preach  "  that  the  whole  system  of 
indulgences  is  a  delusion  ;  Christ  alone  paid  the  ransom  for 
the  sins  of  mankind."  The  state  of  mind  of  the  superior 
circles,  both  with  regard  to  learning  and  religion,  prepared 
them  for  independent  attempts  at  reform,  and  Zwingli  was 
right  when  he  afterwards  sai  J  to  his  accusers,  "  All  deference 
to  Martin  Luther,  but  what  we  have  in  common  with  him 
was  our  conviction  before  we  knew  his  name." 

In  1499,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  Zwingli  went  to  the  univer- 
sity of  Vienna,  having  positively  declined  the  proposals  of 
the  Dominicans  of  Berne,  who  wanted  to  make  a  monk  of 
him.  Well  schooled  in  all  Humanist  accomplishments,  such 
as  modern  Latin  prose  and  poetry,  he  returned  to  Basle, 
where  Wittenbach  exercised  so  powemil  an  influence  over 
him  that  he  resolved  to  devote  himselt  entirely  to  theology. 
In  1506  he  obtained  the  degree  of  M.A.  in  the  liberal  arts, 
and  in  the  same  year  he  was  chosen  curate  of  the  congrega- 
tion at  Glarus. 

At  Glarus  his  labours  were  manifold  and  uninterrupted 
for  ten  years,  and  he  continued  to  cultivate  his  mind.  It  was 
here  that  he  first  pursued  those  deeper  studies  which  the 
importance  of  his  subsequent  vocation  demanded,  and 
amidst  which  he  ripened  into  manhood.  It  was  here  also 
that  he  became  conscious  of  the  political  and  national 
grievances  of  his  country,  the  redress  of  which  he  desired  as 
ardently  as  he  did  the  reform  of  the  Church.  The  contrast 
between  the  course  of  his  studies  and  those  of  Luther  is 
remarkable.  His  early  letters  are  the  letters  of  a  Humanist, 
whose  vocation  is  the  Church,  but  whose  heart  belonged  to 
the  great  spirits  of  antiquity ;  he  orders  editions  of  Cicero, 
Sallust,  Seneca,  Valerius  Maximus,  Horace,  heartily  rejoices 
at  the  blows  which  the  enemies  of  the  light  (Dunkelmanner) 
at  Vienna,  Basle,  and  Paris  have  received  from  the  human- 
istic free-thinkers,  and  instructs  some  of  his  young  country- 
men in  his  house  with  so  much  success  that  even  an  Erasmus 
does  not  refuse  his  admiring  recognition  of  it.  With  the 
study  of  Greek,  which  he  now  first  took  up  in  earnest,  a  new 
world  was  opened  to  him ;  he  studied  the  Greek  grammar  of 
Chrysoloras  with  eager  zeal,  and  wrote  to  a  friend:  "Nothing 
but  God  shall  prevent  me  Irom  acquiring  Greek,  not  for  fame, 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  Holy  Scriptures." 


128        THE  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

He  read  Plato,  Lucian,  Homer,  Pindar,  with  delight,  and 
the  New  Testament,  in  order,  as  he  says,  that  he  might  "study 
the  doctrine  of  Christ  from  the  original  source."  He  copied 
the  Pauline  Epistles  in  the  original,  and  made  explanatory 
notes  in  the  margin,  and  learnt  them  word  for  word  by  heart. 
The  copy  is  still  extant.  He  thus  arrived  at  the  choked-up 
springs  of  revelation,  in  which  Luther  at  length  found  con- 
solation at  Erfurt,  but  not  as  he  did  by  the  circuitous  paths 
of  scholasticism,  mysticism,  and  the  fathers,  but  from  the 
soul-purifying  study  of  the  Scriptures.  By  the  true  text  he 
tested  the  doctrines  of  ancient  and  modern  Christian 
thinkers,  both  of  the  celebrated  fathers  of  the  Church  and 
the  learned  heretics,  and  thus  he  gradually  formed  a  system 
of  conviction  independently,  and  firmly  took  his  stand  upon 
it  as  a  Reformer. 

Such  ecclesiastics  were  as  scarce  in  Switzerland  as  any- 
where else.  At  a  meeting  of  all  the  deans  of  the  Confedera- 
tion, it  was  found,  as  Bullinger  says,  that  not  more  than 
three  were  at  home  in  the  Bible  ;  all  the  rest  confessed  that 
they  had  never  even  read  the  New  Testament  through. 
Here  as  elsewhere  the  clergy  were  utterly  sunk  in  luxury  and 
hypocrisy ;  the  preaching  of  the  ill-educated  consisted  of 
second-hand  clerical  twaddle,  that  of  the  more  educated  of 
dry  scholasticism. 

Zwingli's  mental  alienation  from  the  ancient  Church  is  even 
at  this  time  evident  from  the  spirit  and  tendency  of  his  ser- 
mons, but  it  was  years  before  the  breach  took  place.  Mean- 
while he  twice  accompanied  his  warlike  countrymen  as  army 
preacher  to  Italy :  the  first  time,  in  1512,  he  witnessed  the 
triumphal  march  of  the  Swiss  through  Lombardy ;  the  second 
time,  in  1515,  he  witnessed  the  ignominious  end  of  the  bril- 
liant army  which  the  Swiss  had  raised  for  foreign  pay ;  he 
saw  how  some  of  them,  bribed  by  the  French,  left  their 
countrymen  in  the  lurch  before  the  enemy,  and  how  the  rest, 
dispirited  and  at  variance  among  themselves,  were  beaten  at 
Marignano.  During  the  hopeless  days  before  the  battle,  the 
young  preacher  appealed  to  the  consciences  of  his  country- 
men, spoke  of  the  curse  of  their  desertion  of  their  country, 
the  decline  of  ancient  discipline,  and  Swiss  military  honour. 

He  thus  touched  upon  the  most  incurable  disease  of  the 
Confederation  ;  the  country  had  been  the  recruiting-ground 
for  Emperor,  King,  and  Pope,  in  their  perpetual  struggle  for 
Lombardy.  The  inhabitants  of  towns  and  villages  and 


ULRICH  ZWINGLI.  129 

whole  cantons  were  in  the  pay  of  one  foreign  power  or 
another,  and  for  ready  money  they  gave  up  their  youth  fit 
for  military  service  to  fight  under  foreign  colours.  The  con- 
federates changed  their  colours  according  to  the  sums 
offered ;  people  were  on  one  side  one  day,  on  the  other 
the  next;  in  short,  it  was  a  disgraceful  traffic,  ruinous  to  the 
honour  and  faith  of  the  people,  and  every  honest  patriot  was 
deeply  ashamed  of  it. 

It  was  advantageous  to  the  cause  of  Church  reform  that 
the  papal  policy  could  not  dispense  with  the  Swiss  rene- 
gades. Rome  looked  on  for  years  at  the  proceedings  of  the 
innovators,  hoping  to  come  to  terms  with  them  that  they 
might  not  be  deprived  of  this  support. 

From  1516-18  we  find  Zwingli  as  curate  at  Einsiedeln, 
an  abbey  which  was  then  in  the  hands  of  a  free-thinker, 
whilst  the  place  itself,  with  its  wonder-working  image  in  St. 
Meinrad's  cell,  was  a  centre  of  gross  superstition.  It  was 
here  that  Zwingli  began  to  preach  the  gospel.  The  new 
curate  ventured  to  tell  the  thousands  of  pilgrims,  who  were 
seeking  healing  for  their  bodies  or  pardon  for  their  sins,  of 
a  forgiveness  of  sins  which  was  to  be  obtained  not  by  pil- 
grimages or  empty  vows,  nor  by  holy  altars  and  miraculous 
images,  but  by  amendment  of  heart  and  life,  by  sincere 
repentance  and  moral  reforms.  "  Do  you  think,"  he  said, 
"  that  those  elect  of  God  to  whose  feet  you  are  flocking 
attained  the  glory  of  heaven  by  the  merits  of  others  ?  No  ; 
it  was  by  keeping  to  the  paths  of  the  law,  by  subjection  to 
the  will  of  the  Highest,  and  by  devotion  to  their  Saviour 
unto  death.  Let  the  holiness  of  their  lives  be  an  example 
to  you,  walk  in  their  footsteps,  be  not  turned  aside  by 
danger  or  temptation ;  you  will  thus  prove  yourselves 
worthy.  In  the  day  of  trouble,  put  your  whole  trust  in 
God — upon  Him  who  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 
In  the  hour  of  death,  call  upon  Jesus  Christ  alone,  who 
bought  you  with  His  blood,  and  is  the  only  mediator  be- 
tween God  and  man."  * 

This  sermon  excited  a  vast  deal  of  attention.  The  ortho- 
dox shook  their  heads ;  the  liberal  already  recognised 
Zwingli  as  their  most  talented  spokesman  ;  they  encouraged 
him  by  letters,  and  many  great  schemes  were  propounded 
here.  Attention  was  also  aroused  at  Rome,  and  in  1518 

*  Bullinger. 
K 


130        THE  REFORMATION  IN   SWITZERLAND. 

the  legate  Pucci  sought  to  divert  Zwingli  to  the  interests  of 
the  Curia  by  smothering  him  with  favours  and  flatteries. 
Zwingli  was  still  within  the  folds  of  the  Church,  in  whose 
house  there  were  certainly  many  mansions,  and  with  honest 
zeal  he  tried  to  awaken  the  spirit  of  reform  within  her,  and 
to  induce  her  herself  to  exercise  her  authority  in  putting  an 
end  to  the  most  flagrant  abuses.  It  was  not  till  he  had 
found  all  admonitions  vain  that,  like  Luther,  he  came  to  an 
open  rupture  with  her.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  in  1525,  he 
gave  an  account  of  the  many  representations  he  had  made 
in  private  to  cardinals,  bishops,  and  prelates,  that  they 
"  must  begin  to  reform  abuses,  or  they  would  come  to  an 
end  themselves  with  far  greater  commotion."  But  it  had 
been  all  in  vain,  and  he  could  say  with  a  good  conscience, 
"  I  have  never  done  anything  in  holes  and  corners  like  a 
thief,  but  have  always  given  timely  warning,  and  have  had 
an  answer  for  all  men." 

The  Church  was  already  on  the  threshold  of  that  transi- 
tion period  when  it  had  become  impracticable  to  distinguish 
between  usage  and  abuse,  faith  and  superstition,  at  least  for 
those  who  had  no  wish  to  do  so  if  they  had  the  power.  The 
grievance  of  indulgences  existed  also  in  Switzerland.  No 
sensible  man  ventured  to  defend  it,  but  it  clung  to  the  sys- 
tem like  an  incurable  canker. 

THE  REFORMATION  AT  ZURICH,  1519-25. 

Zwingli  was  curate  at  Zurich  when  Tetzel's  Swiss  counter- 
part, Bernhardin  Samson,  proposed  to  bring  his  shameless 
indulgence  shop  thither  from  the  Forest  Cantons.  Zwingli 
prevailed  with  the  Diet  then  sitting  to  send  the  barefooted 
friar  out  of  the  country ;  and  Rome  was  still  so  intent  on 
keeping  on  good  terms  with  the  Swiss  Confederation,  that 
the  episcopal  vicar  praised  him  in  a  letter  "  for  driving 
the  strange  wolf  from  the  flock." 

From  the  beginning  of  1519  Zwingli  had  been  giving  a 
course  of  sermons,  in  the  great  cathedral  of  Zurich,  on  the 
interpretation  of  the  gospel.  He  treated  of  Matthew,  the 
Acts,  the  Pauline  Epistles,  "in  simple  Swiss  language," 
and  taught  justification  through  faith  in  the  Saviour,  as  he 
had  learnt  it  from  these  sources.  He  also  spoke  against 
"  superstition,  bigotry,  and  hypocrisy,"  rebuked  the  vices  of 
individuals  as  well  as  the  general  decline  of  moral  disci- 


THE  REFORMATION  AT  ZURICH.  131 

pline,  spoke  of  the  abuses  in  the  Church,  the  degenerate 
spirit  of  the  cantons,  their  injustice  to  the  weak  and  obse- 
quiousness to  the  great,  and  mourned  over  the  loss  of  the 
freedom  and  glory  of  the  Confederation,  through  party 
dissensions,  desertion  of  their  country  by  the  inhabitants, 
pensions,  and  bulls.  Zwingli  preached  the  word  like  a 
native  orator ;  his  language  was  simple,  but  deeply  impres- 
sive, for  it  glowed  with  profound  conviction,  and  it  there- 
fore powerfully  affected  even  those  who  did  not  share  his 
views.  People  who  felt  that  his  words  were  applicable  to 
themselves  thought  he  was  aiming  specially  at  them,  when 
he  would  say,  "  Good  man,  take  it  not  to  thyself."  Those 
who  had  kept  away  from  preaching  and  the  church  for 
years  said,  "  This  is  a  real  preacher  of  the  truth ;  he  will 
tell  us  how  things  really  are ;  "  and  honest  Thomas  Plater, 
a  travelling  scholar,  said  that  when  listening  to  Zwingli's  ser- 
mon on  John  x.,  "  I  am  the  good  Shepherd,"  "  he  felt  as 
if  some  one  was  pulling  him  by  the  hair." 

Just  at  this  period  a  war  was  in  prospect  about  the  Duchy 
of  Milan,  and  again  came  the  French  "  sack  of  crown- 
pieces  "  to  bribe  Swiss  soldiers.  All  the  Confederation 
took  the  side  of  Francis  I.  ;  Zurich  alone  declined  all  over- 
tures, so  great  had  been  the  effect  of  Zwingli's  admonitions. 
This  was  in  May,  1521.  But  when  the  ambassadors  of 
the  Pope  and  Emperor  arrived,  and  the  former  demanded 
troops,  by  right  of  ancient  treaties,  to  defend  the  States 
of  the  Church,  Zwingli  was  vanquished.  It  was  now  that 
he  first  began  to  say  bitter  things  against  the  Pope.  His 
patriotism  was  touched,  and  he  saw  all  the  grievances  of  his 
country  summed  up  in  this  pernicious  desertion  of  it.  "  I 
wish,"  he  said,  among  other  things,  "  that  they  had  bored 
a  hole  in  the  Pope's  letter,  and  hung  it  to  his  messenger's 
back,  that  he  might  carry  it  home.  If  a  wolf  is  seen  in 
the  country,  you  sound  an  alarm  that  it  may  be  caught ;  but 
you  will  not  defend  yourselves  from  the  wolves  that  ruin  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  men.  How  appropriate  are  their  red 
hats  and  cloaks !  If  you  shake  them,  out  fall  ducats ;  if 
you  wring  them,  out  flows  the  blood  of  your  sons,  brothers, 
and  friends  !  " 

Zwingli's  opponents  now  began  to  be  more  bitter ;  both 
political  and  ecclesiastical  enemies  began  to  revile  this  other 
Luther,  and  to  stir  up  the  people  and  the  congregations 
against  him  ;  it  went  so  far  that  his  life  was  hardly  safe,  so 


132        THE  REFORMATION  IN   SWITZERLAND. 

that  the  council  placed  a  guard  before  his  door,  and  when 
he  went  out  in  the  evening  a  body  of  young  men  accom- 
panied him  as  a  volunteer  guard.  In  the  same  year  the 
Papal  Legate  demanded  that  Luther's  works  in  Switzerland 
should  be  burnt,  and  his  followers  exterminated.  The 
Diet  obeyed,  and  set  house  to  house  visitations  on  foot, 
especially  at  Lucerne,  in  search  of  the  forbidden  books. 
"  All  that  is  scribbled  over,"  said  the  agent  of  the  Council 
of  Lucerne,  "is  Lutheran,  and  is  to  be  burnt."  With  these 
words  he  seized  Erasmus's  Greek  edition  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  burn  it. 

The  Council  of  Zurich  found  out  how  to  rob  the  Edict  of 
its  sting;  the  mandate  which  it  put  forth  in  1520,  in 
apparent  accordance  with  the  decree  of  the  Diet,  in  reality 
gave  free  scope  to  the  forbidden  doctrine.  It  ordained  that 
all  curates,  pastors,  and  preachers,  as  is  also  declared  by 
the  papal  laws,  "are  to  preach  the  holy  Gospels  and  Epistles 
agreeably  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  to  keep  to  what  they  receive  from 
and  is  proved  by  the  aforesaid  Scriptures,  and  not  to  teach 
any  adventitious  innovations  or  dogmas."* 

In  accordance  with  the  principles  of  this  decree,  the 
cause  of  reform  might  progress  unhindered.  Since  the 
heads  of  the  Church  had  declined  to  abolish  grievous  abuses, 
the  communities  began  to  do  it  for  themselves,  and  the 
spirit  and  tendency  of  the  Swiss  Reformation  are  indicated 
by  the  fact,  that  they  began  by  abolishing  outward  forms 
which  had  become  empty  and  meaningless,  instead  of,  as 
Luther  had  done,  pressing  for  a  decision  on  the  deepest 
principles  of  the  Christian  faith. 

Scarcely  had  Zwingli  proved  the  absurdity  of  the  rules 
about  fasting  than  some  of  his  followers  treated  the  prohibi- 
tion of  certain  kinds  of  food  in  Lent  as  no  longer  binding, 
and  used  them  without  buying  dispensations  or  indulgences, 
which  was  all  they  could  be  blamed  for.  The  suffragan 
Bishop  of  Constance  brought  an  accusation  against  them 
before  the  council.  Zwingli  was  heard,  and,  to  the  confusion 
of  his  adversaries,  appealed  to  the  plain  words  of  the  Apostle 
Paul  to  Timothy,  that  "  every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and 
nothing  to  be  refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving :  for 
it  is  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and  prayer."  f  He  pub- 

•  Roder.  t  i  Timothy  iv.  4,  5. 


DECREE  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  ZURICH.        133 

lished  the  sermon  which  had  given  so  much  offence,  and 
the  contents  of  this,  his  first  publication,  may  be  thus 
summed  up  :  "  If  thou  art  disposed  to  fast,  do  so ;  if  thou 
wishest  to  eat  meat,  eat  it;  but  allow  the  Christian  his 
liberty." 

The  clamour  which  the  monks  everywhere  raised  against 
it,  put  an  end  to  a  decree  which,  still  more  clearly  than  that 
of  1520,  favoured  preaching  according  to  the  Scriptures,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  scholastic  expositors. 

Zwingli  continued  to  preach  in  the  same  spirit.  The 
misfortunes  of  the  Swiss  renegades  at  Bicocca  again  incited 
him  to  warn  the  "  dear  honourable  people  of  Switzerland 
against  taking  pay  from  foreign  masters  who  will  ruin  us ; " 
and  in  August,  1522,  he  published  a  new  and  complete 
work,  in  sixty-nine  articles,  against  the  orthodox  party. 

After  the  victory  on  the  subject  of  fasting  followed  the 
storm  about  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy.  The  fearful  immo- 
rality resulting  from  the  prohibition  of  marriage  is  evident 
from  two  facts  to  which  Zwingli  refers  in  his  address  to  the 
Bishop  of  Constance — first,  that  the  bishops  formally  impose 
taxes  on  the  concubines  and  illegitimate  children  of  the 
clergy;  and,  secondly,  that,  according  to  an  ancient  usage, 
many  Swiss  congregations  require,  for  the  sake  of  peace 
and  the  honour  of  families,  that  a  newly  appointed  priest 
shall  "  keep  a  concubine  for  himself  in  his  house."  It  was 
necessary  that  for  once  the  truth  on  this  subject  should  be 
plainly  and  honestly  spoken,  and  this  Zwingli  did  in  a  peti- 
tion signed  by  many  others,  addressed  to  the  Bishop  of 
Constance,  and  in  a  second  letter  to  the  same. 

In  spite  of  all  this  Pope  Adrian  VI.  made  another  attempt 
to  make  a  favourable  impression  on  the  brave  Swiss,  or,  as 
the  latier  somewhat  coarsely  expressed  it,  to  "  uncouple  " 
him.  But  Zwingli  was  now  urgent  for  a  decision.  He  pre- 
vailed upon  the  Council  of  Zurich  to  arrange  a  public 
discussion,  in  order  that,  Bible  in  hand,  he  might  measure 
his  strength  with  his  opponents.  The  council  consented, 
and  appointed  it  for  the  23rd  of  January,  1 523.  Zwingli  had 
previously  drawn  up  a  full  confession  of  faith  in  sixty-seven 
theses,  which  contain  the  outline  of  his  views  of  life  and 
religion.  The  fundamental  principle  of  it  shows  the  marked 
difference  between  him  and  Luther.  Zwingli's  endeavour 
was  to  exclude  everything  from  the  Church  and  the  faith 
which  could  not  be  justified  from  Scripture,  instead  of,  like 


134        THE   REFORMATION  IN   SWITZERLAND. 

Luther,  to  maintain  all  that  was  not  expressly  contradicted 
in  Scripture. 

Thus  he  says,  in  reference  to  the  gospel :  "  They  are  in 
error  and  blaspheme  who  ascribe  no  authority  to  the  gospel, 
unless  it  is  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  the  Church ; " 
he  speaks  of  Jesus  as  "  the  only  guide  and  captain  of  salva- 
tion, he  who  seeks  or  points  out  any  other  door  is  a  thief 
and  a  robber ; "  of  the  Papacy,  "  Christ  is  the  only  and 
eternal  high  priest ;  from  this  it  follows  that  those  who  have 
given  themselves  out  for  high  priests  are  rejecting  the  glory 
and  authority  of  Christ ;"  of  the  clerical  garb,  "  Nothing  is 
more  displeasing  to  God  than  hypocrisy,  it  follows  there- 
fore that  everything  which  assumes  sanctity  in  the  sight  of 
men  is  hypocrisy  and  folly  ;  this  condemns  cowls,  symbols, 
and  tonsures ; "  of  sects  and  orders,  "  All  men  are  brothers 
in  Christ  and  brothers  one  to  another  ;  therefore  they  should 
not  exalt  any  man  to  be  their  father  upon  earth  ;  this  con- 
demns sects,  orders,  and  factions  ;  "  of  celibacy,  "  When  the 
clergy  feel  that  God  has  denied  them  the  gift  of  continence, 
and  do  not  marry,  they  commit  sin;"  of  government, 
"  There  is  no  ecclesiastical  but  only  secular  government, 
to  which  all  Christians  without  exception  owe  allegiance, 
unless  it  enjoins  what  is  contrary  to  God's  will ;  if  it  does 
this,  it  may  be  deposed  with  God's  help ; "  of  purgatory, 
"  The  Holy  Scriptures  say  nothing  about  purgatory  after 
death ; "  of  the  abolition  of  abuses,  "  The  ecclesiastical 
rulers  must  hasten  to  humble  themselves  before  God,  and 
they  should  set  up  the  cross  of  Christ,  not  the  box  for 
offerings,  or  their  end  is  drawing  near ;  the  axe  is  laid  to 
the  root  of  the  trees."  In  conclusion,  he  says,  "  Let  no  one 
undertake  to  discuss  these  subjects  in  a  sophistical  and 
trifling  spirit,  but  bring  the  Scriptures  as  the  test,  that  the 
truth  may  be  discovered,  or  if,  as  I  hope,  it  is  already 
discovered,  that  it  may  be  maintained.  Amen.  May  God 
grant  it!"* 

The  discussion  took  a  disastrous  course  for  Zwingli's 
opponents.  Six  hundred  people  had  assembled  to  hear  the 
debate  on  religion.  Zwingli  opened  it  with  a  short  address, 
which  closed  with  the  words,  "  Now  then,  in  God's  name, 
here  I  am."  The  episcopal  vicar,  who  spoke  next,  spoke  of 
everything  except  Zwingli's  theses,  promised  a  council  and  a 

*  Roder,  Gieseler. 


PROGRESS   OF  REFORM.  135 

decision  by  the  bishops,  prelates,  &c.  When  asked  to  prove 
the  charge  of  heresy  from  the  Scriptures,  he  persisted  in 
silence,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  the  2pth  of  January  the 
council  was  justified  in  stating,  that  as  no  one  had  appeared 
to  convict  Master  Ulrich  Zwingli  of  error,  it  earnestly  desired 
that  he  should  continue  to  proclaim  and  preach  the  holy 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  and  the  precepts  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  accordance  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  he  had 
hitherto  done."  The  same  was  to  apply  to  all  other  ministers 
of  the  divine  word,  and  abuse  and  slander  were  forbidden 
under  heavy  penalties. 

By  this  resolution  Zurich  separated  itself  from  the  bishopric 
of  Constance ;  the  congregation  of  the  faithful  took  pos- 
session of  the  rights  which  Zwingli's  constitution  of  the 
Church  assigned  to  it;  the  ecclesiastical  authority,  which  he 
held  to  be  an  illegal  assumption  of  power  on  the  part  of 
the  heads  of  the  Church,  was  practically  abjured,  and  the 
foundation-stone  was  laid  of  his  Church  polity,  the  absolute 
power  of  the  congregation. 

And  now  the  innovations  which  were  based  upon  this 
principle  followed  step  by  step;  the  mother  tongue  sup- 
planted Latin  in  prayers  and  the  baptismal  and  marriage 
services  ;  the  incomes  of  chapters  and  monasteries  were 
applied  to  purposes  of  education  both  for  the  lower  and 
higher  classes,  the  cells  of  monks  and  nuns  were  set  open, 
priests  entered  into  holy  matrimony,  the  abolition  of  the 
mass  and  image -worship,  as  part  of  the  same  system,  followed. 
On  the  26th  of  January,  1524,  the  Diet  passed  a  resolution 
at  Lucerne  against  the  reforms ;  in  March  messengers  from 
the  twelve  districts  appeared  before  the  Council  of  Zurich 
and  remonstrated,  but  Zurich  and  its  communes  remained 
firm,  and  after  the  spring  of  1524  took  a  new  and  more 
decided  course.  Processions  and  the  festival  of  Corpus 
Christi  were  abolished,  the  shrines  were  opened,  the  bones 
buried,  the  organs  removed  from  the  churches,  tolling  for 
the  dead  and  ringing  for  mass,  the  benediction  of  palms,  salt, 
water,  ashes  and  tapers,  and  the  last  unction  were  done 
away  with,  and  the  administration  of  the  Holy  Supper  in 
both  kinds  was  celebrated  by  a  solemn  communion  of  all 
the  reformed  congregations  on  Maundy  Thursday,  1525. 


136        THE  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 


REFORMED  ZURICH  AND  SWITZERLAND. 

Amidst  the  repeated  attempts  of  the  orthodox  party  to 
incite  the  whole  Confederation  to  oppose  the  heretics  at 
Zurich,  the  Confederation  had  separated  into  two  camps, 
and  the  heresy  which  was  to  be  exterminated  had  spread  its 
roots  far  and  wide  beyond  Zurich,  and  had  allied  itself  with 
political  and  intellectual  movements  of  all  sorts.  The 
educated  citizens  in  the  larger  cities  of  Basle,  Berne,  and 
Schaffhausen,  and  the  country-people  in  Appenzell,  Glarus, 
and  the  Grisons,  who  had  been  prepared  for  the  new 
doctrine  by  liberal  preachers,  resisted  all  attempts  to  put  it 
down  by  force,  and  it  was  only  in  the  five  Forest  Cantons  of 
Lucerne,  Zug,  Schwyz,  Uri,  and  Unterwalden,  to  which  Frei- 
burg and  the  Valais  joined  themselves,  that  the  orthodox 
party  kept  strictly  together.  It  had  its  seat,  generally 
speaking,  in  the  patrician  oligarchies,  whose  dominion  and 
richest  sources  of  income  would  be  dried  up  if  religious 
democracy  prevailed,  and  if  papal  pensions  and  favours 
came  to  an  end,  while  all  persons  of  democratic  tendencies 
in  town  and  country  naturally  took  the  side  of  reform. 
The  tendencies  of  the  dependencies  or  common  territories 
were  mainly  determined  by  the  chief  places  in  them  ;  in 
Thurgau,  the  Rhine  Valley,  Aargau,  and  the  free  corpora- 
tions, through  the  influence  of  Zurich,  St.  Gall,  and  Berne, 
the  Reformation  prevailed  :  while  Sargans,  Gaster,  Uznach, 
Baden,  the  greater  part  of  the  Forest  Cantons,  the  Italian 
dependencies  (now  the  canton  of  Tessin),  Beltlin,  Bormio, 
and  Chiavenna,  after  a  little  vacillation,  adhered  entirely  to 
the  ancient  Church. 

Thus  in  this  case  the  course  of  political  and  ecclesiastical 
affairs  coincided,  and  Zwingli's  position  was  from  the  first 
different  from  that  of  Luther.  Luther  kept  strictly  within 
the  limits  of  pure  Church  reform.  In  the  existing  situation  of 
affairs  in  Germany  this  was  certainly  the  more  modest  as 
well  as  the  more  prudent  course,  but  it  was  not  possible  in 
the  little  commonwealth  of  Switzerland. 

The  way  in  which  Zwingli  apprehended  the  necessities  of 
his  position  indicates  his  great  superiority  of  mind.  Having 
established  the  Church  on  the  basis  of  the  congregation,  he 
entertained  similar  projects  with  regard  to  the  State,  not 
only  in  relation  to  the  individual  commonwealths  of  the 


ZURICH  AND   SWITZERLAND.  137 

cantons,  but  the  great  commonwealth  of  the  Confedera- 
tion. 

It  was  he  who  first  entertained  the  great  idea  of  giving  a 
general  constitution  to  the  Swiss  cantons,  similar  to  the 
representative  democracy  which  has  after  three  centuries 
been  realised ;  of  putting  an  end  to  the  unnatural  supre- 
macy of  the  small  Forest  Cantons,  of  depriving  the  prefects 
of  their  jurisdiction,  and  of  giving  to  the  larger  cantons  the 
position  to  which  they  were  entitled  by  their  extent,  power, 
property,  and  culture.  The  system  of  equalisation,  by  which 
the  five  Forest  Cantons  had  as  many  seats  and  votes  in  the 
Diet  as  the  larger  ones,  was  a  political  absurdity.  It  is 
only  in  our  times  that  this  has  been  altered.  Zwingli  was  the 
greatest  political  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  reformer  whom 
Switzerland  has  ever  seen.  His  ideas  may  be  said  to  have 
triumphed  in  the  constitution  adopted  in  Switzerland  about 
ten  years  ago.* 

This  formed  one  of  the  most  powerful  levers  of  his  pro- 
paganda, but  it  was  also  the  main  cause  of  the  animosity  of 
his  opponents.  For  the  Forest  Cantons  it  was  a  question  of 
existence ;  the  erroneous  doctrines  were  in  their  eyes  revolu- 
tion and  anarchy ;  opposition  to  the  ancient  Church  was  also 
opposition  to  the  existing  government,  with  which  they  must 
stand  or  fall. 

The  victory  which  the  democratic  reform  party  gained  at 
Berne  over  the  oligarchy  was  a  decisive  event.  The  reli- 
gious controversies  had  roused  the  masses  out  of  their 
passive  traditional  obedience;  at  the  elections  of  1527  the 
Reformers  broke  through  the  compact  phalanx  of  the  oli- 
garchy in  the  great  council,  and  the  masses  demanded  the 
rights  of  which  they  had  been  deprived  for  the  last  twenty 
years,  and  instituted  a  solemn  religious  discussion  at  the  be- 
ginning of  1528.  The  doctrines  of  Zwingli  again  obtained  a 
great  victory ;  it  resulted  not  only  in  a  general  attack  upon  the 
pictures  and  images  of  saints  in  the  churches,  but  in  an  entire 
revolution  in  the  State;  the  two  councils,  instead  of  being 
filled  up  in  a  brotherly  manner  by  each  other,  were  formed 
upon  the  elective  rights  of  the  reformed  communities,  and 
the  scandal  of  the  pensions  which  had  hitherto  connected 
all  the  great  families  with  France  was  finally  put  a  stop  to. 

A  great  reaction  followed  this  stroke.  Fresh  impetus  was 
given  to  the  spread  of  the  new  doctrines,  and  the  mountain 
*  Written  in  1859  or  1860.— TR. 


138        THE  REFORMATION  IN   SWITZERLAND. 

fortresses  of  the  five  Forest  Cantons,  strong  though  their 
internal  position  was,  were  now  encompassed  by  a  storm 
which  made  their  situation  day  by  day  more  untenable. 

The  Forest  Cantons  had  an  existence  beyond  their  moun- 
tains ;  they  had  a  share  in  the  territories  which  were  ruled 
by  the  prefects  of  several  districts  (Orte)  at  once,  or  in  rota- 
tion. There  were  districts  governed  by  Zurich,  Berne  with 
Schwyz,  Lucerne,  and  Zug  all  at  once.* 

Some  adopted  the  doctrines  of  Zwingli,  others  adhered  to 
the  old  forms ;  some  persecuted  what  the  others  held  sacred  ; 
there  was  thus  abundant  occasion  for  strife.  So  complicated 
a  political  system  as  this  of  ancient  Switzerland,  with  its 
governing  districts  (Orten)  and  its  associated  and  subject 
districts,  could  not  but  get  out  of  joint,  unless  one  party  or 
the  other  gained  a  decisive  victory,  or  a  boundary-line  could 
be  drawn  between  them. 

The  party  of  the  oppressed  Forest  Cantons  adopted  des- 
perate measures  of  self-defence.  In  1526  a  reformed 
preacher  was  publicly  burnt,  as  a  signal  that  the  discussion 
of  religion  proclaimed  a  few  days  afterwards  at  Baden  was  to 
be  only  a  great  Inquisition.  They  inflicted  fines,  imprison- 
ment, whipping,  mutilation,  and  death,  so  far  as  their  power 
extended,  upon  the  reformed  preachers  and  their  followers. 
The  reformed  cantons  did  not  disgrace  themselves  with 
personal  violence,  but  almost  every  victory  of  their  enemies 
was  followed  by  attacks  upon  images  in  the  churches. 

It  was  amidst  all  this  irritation  that  the  decisive  struggle 
drew  near.  It  threatened  to  break  out  in  1529,  and  the 
Forest  Cantons  renewed  their  alliance  with  the  house  of 
Hapsburg,  with  the  reasonable  hope  that  the  Emperor  would 
succeed  in  Switzerland  in  what  he  was  trying  to  carry  out 
in  the  empire.  The  Reformers,  on  the  contrary,  relied  on 
those  who  held  opinions  similar  to  theirs  in  the  states  of 
Upper  Germany,  Constance,  at  Ulm,  Augsburg,  Nuremberg, 
and  on  Philip  of  Hesse. 

In  June,  15 29,  both  parties  were  ready  for  battle.  Zwingli 
had  from  the  first  come  to  a  conclusion  on  this  subject  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Luther.  "  Thou  dost  not  know  these 
people,"  he  said  to  his  friend  CEcolampadius  in  reply  to  his 

*  Thus  Thurgau  in  matters  of  government  belonged  to  seven,  in 
the  administration  of  justice  to  ten  districts  (Orten).  In  the  valley  of 
the  Rhine,  Zurich,  Glarus,  and  Appenzell  had  authority  besides  the  five 
districts  (Orten). 


THE  REFORMERS   AND   THE   FIVE  CANTONS.     139 

warnings.  "  I  see  the  sword  already  drawn,  and  shall  do  the 
duty  of  a  faithful  watchman."  He  plainly  saw  that  the 
peace  which  was  necessary  for  the  new  doctrines  could  not 
be  obtained  without  war;  he  therefore  wished  to  see  the 
combat  decided  by  a  well-aimed  blow  at  a  favourable  moment, 
and,  martial  son  of  the  Alps  as  he  was,  he  advanced  on 
horseback,  halberdier  in  hand,  to  the  frontier  with  his  fol- 
lowers, to  help  to  subdue  the  ill-equipped  enemy. 

They  did  not  come  to  an  engagement.  The  governor, 
Aebli,  of  Glarus,  intercepted  the  men  of  Zurich  just  as  they 
were  about  to  cross  the  frontier,  and  persuaded  them  to 
return.  Zwingli  said  to  him  :  "  Gevatter  Amman  "  (Father 
magistrate),  "thou  wilt  have  to  answer  for  this  before 
God.  Our  enemies  have  deceived  thee  with  fair  speeches. 
While  they  are  unarmed  and  unprepared  thou  believest  them 
and  departest ;  but  hereafter  when  they  are  prepared  they 
will  not  spare  us,  and  then  no  one  will  depart." 

The  military  force  of  Zurich,  in  spite  of  the  scanty  aid  of 
the  allies  and  the  disinclination  of  Berne  for  war,  must  have 
been  at  this  time  considerable,  for  the  peace  to  which  the 
five  Forest  Cantons  agreed  at  Cappel,  on  the  25th  of 
June,  1529,  was  a  confession  of  the  failure  of  their  cause. 

It  ran  as  follows  :  "  As  God's  word  and  the  faith  are  not 
things  in  which  it  is  lawful  to  use  compulsion,  both  parties 
shall  be  free  to  observe  what  they  think  right,  and  in  the 
common  territories  the  majoiity  in  the  congregations  shall 
determine  whether  the  mass  and  other  usages  be  retained  or 
abolished.  The  five  cantons  shall  break  off  their  alliance 
with  Duke  Ferdinand,  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  be 
advised  to  put  a  stop  to  the  foreign  annuities ; "  and  a  threat 
was  added  that  any  infringement  of  this  treaty  would  be 
followed  by  "  a  fresh  embargo  on  produce  and  merchandise." 

Had  it  been  possible  to  confine  the  controversy  to  the 
religious  question,  the  Reformers  would  doubtless  have 
obtained  a  lasting  victory  on  the  basis  of  this  treaty  ;  but  it 
was  not  so,  and  Zwingli  himself  was  by  no  means  disposed 
thus  to  separate  political  and  ecclesiastical  questions.  Thus 
after  the  victory  a  political  rupture  took  place  among  the 
elements  which,  on  the  religious  question,  were  at  one. 
Berne  and  Zurich  were  agreed  on  the  subject  of  Church 
reform,  but  when  the  question  arose  of  giving  Switzerland 
another  federal  constitution,  with  a  new  metropolis,  neither 
city  would  yield  to  the  other.  Three  centuries  passed  before 


140        THE  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

this  dispute  was  arranged,  when  Zurich,  in  our  own  days,  but 
not  without  loud  lamentation,  agreed  that  Berne  should  be 
the  seat  of  the  federal  government.  Formerly,  however,  the 
struggle  for  supremacy  was  still  more  difficult  to  settle,  as 
Zurich,  where  the  doctrines  of  Zwingli  were  first  adopted 
and  where  he  lived,  decidedly  had  the  advantage  over  its 
rival  in  the  cause  of  reform. 

The  treaty  of  Cappel  soon  led  to  fresh  disputes.  Both 
parties  complained  of  the  other,  and  neither  without  reason. 
The  Forest  Cantons  complained  that  in  the  districts  with 
mixed  governments  Zurich  and  Berne  did  all  in  their  power 
to  further  the  progress  of  the  new  doctrines ;  that  in  doubt- 
ful cases  everything  was  determined  by  the  greater  power ; 
that  in  every  territorial  dispute  the  religious  question  was 
made  use  of  to  their  prejudice ;  that  the  rights  of  the  newly 
elected  Prince  Abbot  of  St.  Gall,  himself  a  fugitive  in  a 
foreign  land,  were  shamefully  disregarded. 

On  the  other  hand,  Zurich  and  Berne  complained  that 
the  five  cantons  did  not  observe  the  main  provisions  of  the 
peace ;  the  new  doctrines  nowhere  enjoyed  the  liberty  pro- 
mised them  by  it ;  wherever  the  Reformers  appeared  or 
essayed  to  preach,  they  were  imprisoned,  persecuted,  even 
put  to  death ;  their  followers  were  treated  as  enemies  of 
the  country,  and  hatred  was  stirred  up  by  lampoons  and 
slanders  of  every  kind.  Both  complaints  were  justified,  and 
in  the  existing  state  of  things  it  was  quite  explicable  that 
they  should  be  so. 

By  1530,  the  very  time  when  an  explosion  seemed  to  be 
near  at  Augsburg,  things  began  to  look  serious.  An  out- 
break was  warded  off,  but  things  could  not  long  remain  as 
they  were.  In  the  spring  of  1531  Zurich  proposed  to 
attack  the  Forest  Cantons,  but  could  not  prevail  upon  its 
allies  to  join.  At  the  Diet  at  Aarau,  on  the  i5th  of  May  of 
the  same  year,  fatal  half-measures  were  resolved  upon.  In 
spite  of  Zwingli's  wise  warnings  they  resolved  to  prohibit  the 
entrance  of  provisions  into  the  Forest  Cantons,  thereby  irri- 
tating them  to  the  last  degree,  yet  doing  nothing  to  promote 
a  settlement. 

Had  Berne  and  Zurich  been  agreed,  it  would  have  required 
no  great  effort,  with  the  aid  of  their  reformed  allies,  to  defeat 
the  far  weaker  Forest  Cantons ;  but  the  spirit  of  discord  was 
as  rife  here  as  in  Germany,  and  the  Forest  Cantons  dexte- 
rously took  advantage  of  it.  Zwingli  justly  said  :  "  If  you 


DEATH   OF   ZWIXGLI.  141 

have  the  right  to  starve  the  five  cantons,  you  have  the  right 
to  attack  them.  It  is  weakness  which  prevents  your  doing 
so ;  when  you  are  irritated  you  will  do  it  with  the  courage 
of  despair." 

Early  in  October  the  five  cantons  secretly  collected  a 
little  armv ;  brave  soldiers  were  not  wanting,  nor  the  re- 
inforcements for  a  hasty  sally,  and  their  numbers  were  suffi- 
cient to  fall  upon  one  of  the  allies  before  succour  could 
arrive. 

The  people  of  Zurich  were  taken  utterly  by  surprise  when 
they  saw  the  little  banner  of  the  five  cantons  advancing  on 
the  lake.  They  had  scarcely  time  for  any  preparations  ;  slowly 
and  wearily  their  troops  assembled  on  the  heights  of  the 
Albis,  while  the  vanguard  was  already  fighting  at  Cappel 
belo\v.  Zwingli  was  present  himself,  encouraging  his  fol- 
lowers. They  had  but  about  two  thousand  men  to  oppose 
a  far  more  numerous  enemy. 

On  the  nth  of  October,  after  brave  resistance  and  a 
contest  that  was  long  doubtful,  the  men  of  Zurich  were 
defeated  at  Cappel.  It  was  a  result  from  which  important 
consequences  flowed  for  a  long  time  afterwards.  Zwingli 
himself  fell  in  the  tumult  of  battle.  This  formed  another 
striking  contrast  between  him  and  Luther,  who  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  warfare,  and  whose  last  words  were, 
"  Keep  the  peace. " 

They  represent  two  widely  differing  views  of  the  world, 
each  of  which  is  right  in  its  place,  but  they  cannot  be 
reconciled. 

The  second  peace  of  Cappel,  of  the  2oth  of  November, 
1531,  was  unfavourable  enough  for  the  Reformers  ;  they  were 
compelled  to  do  as  the  five  cantons  had  had  to  do  by  the 
terms  of  the  first  peace — pay  the  war  expenses  and  give  up 
their  foreign  alliances. 

On  the  other  hand,  each  canton  was  to  retain  its  distinc- 
tive creed  as  before,  and  in  the  common  territories  the 
majority  in  each  congregation  was  to  determine  the  creed 
and  regulate  the  distribution  of  Church  property. 

Thus  in  Switzerland  as  well  as  in  Germany  the  question 
was  left  to  the  individual  states.  Protestantism  was  not 
coerced,  the  supremacy  of  Catholicism  was  prevented ;  it 
was  for  both  parties  to  conduct  themselves  peaceably  in 
future. 

There  was  not  in  Switzerland  any  more  than  in  Germany 


142        THE  REFORMATION  IN   SWITZERLAND. 

any  power  to  enforce  a  decision  of  the  religious  question, 
or  to  give  unity  either  to  reform  or  to  the  Church.  Neither 
of  the  contending  parties  was  strong  enough  to  defeat  the 
other,  and  the  result  in  both  cases  was  dualism  of  Church 
and  creed. 

A  general  principle  of  Church  government  was  evolved 
from  Zwingli's  labours  :  the  supreme  power  of  the  congrega- 
tion. Zwingli  detached  himself  more  thoroughly  than 
Luther  from  the  external  framework  of  the  ancient  Church; 
but  in  this  doctrine  he  gave  the  world  a  principle  of  inex- 
haustible fertility,  and  which,  as  we  shall  yet  see,  has  proved 
itself  to  be  so,  not  only  in  ecclesiastical,  but  in  political  and 
social  life. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

DENMARK.* 

The  Period  between  the  Union  of  Calmar,  1397,  and  the  Reformation. 
— Position  of  the  Danish  Monarchy. — Policy  and  Character  of 
Christian  II.,  1513-23. — Complications  with  Sweden. — The  Mas- 
sacre of  Stockholm,  November,  1520. — Course  of  Reform  in  Den- 
mark.— Revolt  of  the  Nobles.  —  Election  of  Frederic  I.,  April, 
1523-33.  —  His  Domestic  and  Foreign  Policy.  —  The  Diet  at 
Odensee,  1527,  and  Toleration  of  the  New  Doctrines. — Complete 
Victory  of  the  Reformation  under  Christian  III.,  1534-59. 

''"PHE  spectacle  presented  by  the  course  of  the  Reformation 
-L  in  the  Scandinavian  states  is  very  different  from  that 
which  we  have  witnessed  in  Germany  and  Switzerland.  What 
was  accomplished  in  those  countries  either  without  the  aid 
of,  or  in  opposition  to,  monarchical  power,  became  in  the 
North  a  weapon  in  the  hands  of  royalty  itself;  it  established 
its  power  by  the  aid  of  the  Reformation;  and  while  with  us 
the  empire,  which  had  long  been  declining,  came  to  an  end 
by  means  of  Church  reform,  the  same  revolution  was,  for  the 
Scandinavian  North,  the  beginning  of  its  historical  existence. 

At  the  time  of  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation  the  affairs  of 
Scandinavia  were  in  singular  and,  as  it  appears,  hopeless 
confusion. 

In  1397  the  great  idea  had  been  carried  out  of  treating 
the  cognate  Scandinavian  nations  as  different  branches  of  one 
people,  and  of  uniting  the  three  kingdoms  into  one.  This 
was  the  celebrated  Union  of  Calmar,  which  was  effected 
under  Queen  Margaret. 

There  are  ideas  which,  though  sound  and  natural  in  them- 

*  S.  Hvitfeld,  Danmarkis  Rigis  Kronike,  1652,  fol.  Holberg, 
Danische  Reichshistorie,  1757.  Gebhardi,  Geschichte  Danemarks  in 
der  Allg.  Welthistorie,  Bd.  32,  33.  Pontoppidan,  Reformationshistorie, 
1734.  Dahlmann,  Geschichte  von  Danemark,  3  Bde.,  1843. 


144  THE  REFORMATION  IN  DENMARK. 

selves,  are  yet  not  feasible  in  practice,  because  propounded 
too  early  or  too  late.  It  is  now  beyond  dispute  that  this 
idea  of  union  was  a  good  one.  There  is  at  this  time  a 
widely  distributed  party  in  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway, 
which  is  steadily  labouring  to  establish  a  united  Scandina- 
vian state.  By  the  loss  of  its  eastern  possessions,  which 
Russia  now  holds,  Sweden  has  been  for  ever  deprived  of  its 
position  as  a  great  power,  and  naturally  looks  for  support  to 
the  neighbouring  kindred  nations.  Denmark  is  declining ;  it 
cannot  maintain  its  ancient  colonial  and  maritime  power  •  a 
line  of  demarcation  between  its  German  and  Danish  elements 
has  become  inevitable ;  and  thus  the  proposition  advanced 
by  one  party  is  very  intelligible — "  Leave  the  country  to  the 
Germans  as  far  as  the  Eider,  and  let  what  remains  be  the 
Danish  province  of  Scandinavia." 

But  at  that  time  the  case  was  different.  The  Scandina- 
vian Union  was  entirely  a  dynastic  affair ;  it  did  not  originate 
with  the  people,  while  now  it  is  the.  people  who  wish  it 
and  the  rulers  who  oppose.  The  differences  between  allied 
races  were  then  much  greater,  and  the  need  of  mutual 
support  much  less,  than  now.  Both  Denmark  and  Sweden 
felt  strong  enough  to  stand  alone  or  to  rule  the  other.  If 
the  monarch  of  the  Union  were  elected  in  Denmark,  he 
would  be  practically  powerless  in  Sweden ;  if  in  Sweden,  he 
would  be  powerless  in  Denmark.  Thus  after  1397  the 
federal  king  nominally  ruled  over  the  three  kingdoms,  but 
in  two-thirds  of  his  dominions  his  empire  was  in  partibus 
infidelium. 

Besides  the  enmity  of  the  nations  to  each  other,  the 
cause  of  Union  had  to  contend  with  the  impotence  of  the 
monarchical  power,  which  was  more  counterbalanced  by 
strong  aristocratic  influences  than  in  any  other  country.  It 
is  only  among  the  Romanic  peoples  that  monarchical  power 
has  taken  root;  among  the  Germanic  nations  it  was  un- 
speakably difficult  to  establish  even  an  elective  monarchy  ; 
and  as  the  German  Electors  used  to  protect  themselves  by 
an  election  treaty,  in  the  North  a  powerful  Church  and  a 
more  powerful  nobility  used  to  protect  themselves  by  what 
was  called  a  "  bond  "  (Handfeste). 

The  bond  to  which  the  early  kings  of  the  house  of 
Oldenburg  had  to  swear  reduced  them  to  absolute  power- 
lessness.  The  King  could  do  nothing  without  consulting  the 
Council  of  State,  which  had  every  place  in  its  gift,  even  the 


THE  DANISH  MONARCHY.  145 

offices  in  the  royal  household.  He  could  not  make  war  or 
peace,  impose  taxes  or  confiscate  estates,  without  the 
council ;  the  nobles  and  the  Church  had  their  own  courts  of 
judicature,  expired  fiefs  fell  back  to  the  nobles,  the  nobles 
were  exempt  from  taxes  and  had  feudal  rights  :  there  was,  in 
short,  more  than  German  "  liberty." 

Thus  the  King  had  to  contend  with  the  enmity  of  his 
subjects  among  each  other  (and  the  enmity  between  allied 
nations  is  more  bitter  than  any  other),  a  territorial  nobility, 
and  a  proud  and  powerful  Church,  both  possessed  of  immense 
wealth. 

From  this  doubly  circumscribed  position  royalty  sought 
to  extricate  itself  by  taking  advantage  of  the  Reformation  ; 
with  its  aid  it  attacked  and  subdued  one  adversary,  the 
Church,  and  was  then  strong  enough  to  be  a  match  for  the 
nobles. 

Denmark  was  still  the  centre  of  the  northern  kingdom. 
Her  king  was  king  of  the  Union,  and  since  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century  the  throne  had  been  filled  by  the  Dukes  of 
Oldenburg.  Members  of  various  German  princely  houses 
had  previously  been  elected — Erich  VII.  of  Pomerania  in 
1412,  Christopher  III.  of  Bavaria  in  1440.  The  Danes  now 
formed  the  clever  project  of  electing  the  distinguished  Duke 
Adolf  of  Holstein  and  Schleswig,  in  order  to  bring  the 
duchies  into  a  sort  of  personal  union  with  Denmark.  Adolf 
declined  for  himself,  but  he  was  too  much  of  the  ruling 
prince  not  to  seize  the  opportunity  of  seating  his  relative 
Christian  I.  of  Oldenburg  on  the  Danish  throne,  1448-81. 

Thus  at  Adolf's  death  that  fatal  personal  union  took  place 
between  Denmark  and  the  duchies  which  he  wished  to 
avoid.  It  is  from  this  period  that  the  incessant  disputes 
originate  about  the  rights  of  the  duchies,  which,  although 
chartered  by  the  clearest  documents,  have  been  so  perpetu- 
ally questioned  and  infringed. 

Christian  I.  was  succeeded  by  his  son  John  I.,  1481- 
1513,  on  the  Danish  throne,  and  by  Frederic  in  the 
duchies.  The  reign  of  the  son  of  the  former,  Christian  II., 
1513-23,  falls  precisely  at  the  period  of  the  Reformation, 
and  it  was  he  who  made  the  attempt,  supported  by  the  inno- 
vations in  the  Church,  to  found  a  royal  supremacy  on  the 
widest  possible  basis.  That  his  plan  miscarried  is  explained 
by  the  way  in  which  he  went  to  work  and  the  weakness  of 
his  character. 


146  THE  REFORMATION  IN  DENMARK. 

Christian  II.  inherited  the  elective  crown  of  his  father 
John,  and  the  duchies  were  conferred  on  his  uncle  Fre- 
deric I.,  afterwards  his  successor  on  the  Danish  throne. 
Sweden  had  for  a  long  time  been  governed  by  two  distin- 
guished nobles,  the  Stures,  who  called  themselves  Stadt- 
holders,  but  who  were  really  more  powerful  than  the  King, 
and  his  influence  was  no  greater  in  Norway  than  it  was  in 
Sweden ;  added  to  this  there  was  the  commercial  depend- 
ence on  the  Hanseatic  League  which  ruled  the  sea,  and  a 
bond  which  to  this  uncontrolled  and  passionate  prince  was 
peculiarly  galling.  He  sought  to  relieve  himself  from  this 
hampered  and  humiliating  position  ;  he  wanted  to  over- 
throw the  power  of  the  two  aristocracies  which  imposed  so 
many  restrictions  upon  him,  and  to  rule  Sweden  from  Den- 
mark, while  he  kept  each  nation  in  check  by  means  of  the 
other. 

King  Christian  II.  was  one  of  those  people  who,  though 
they  may  possess  a  certain  knowledge  of,  and  insight  into, 
the  position  of  affairs,  are  wanting  in  that  maturity  of  cha- 
racter which  is  indispensable  to  great  undertakings.  He 
undoubtedly  possessed  talents  of  no  common  order,  but  he 
had  not  received  an  education  calculated  to  develop  and 
guide  them,  and  his  rash,  fierce  temper  especially  had  been 
left  without  any  wholesome  counterpoise.  He  was  adven- 
turous rather  than  courageous,  brave  in  the  onset,  but  not 
persevering.  He  would  hazard  the  most  dangerous  enter- 
prises, but  had  no  patient  endurance  in  peril.  Then  he 
could  not  brook  contradiction  or  even  opposition,  he  had 
no  moral  fear  or  political  conscience,  and  was  so  thoroughly 
frivolous  and  faithless  that  at  length  all  parties  forsook  him. 
His  life  was  anything  but  exemplary.  He  brought  back  a 
mistress  from  Holland  who  was  personally  pleasing,  amiable, 
and  harmless,  who  was  called,  half  in  jest  and  half  in 
earnest,  "the  Little  Dove"  (Diiveke).  But  through  her 
mother,  who  was  absolutely  hated,  she  brought  a  fresh  influ- 
ence to  bear  upon  the  government. 

Madame  Sigbritt,  who  was  of  Dutch  descent,  was  pos- 
sessed of  unbridled  ambition,  and  delighted  in  exercising 
her  influence  over  the  young  King.  The  hot  democratic 
blood  of  the  Frieslanders  flowed  in  her  veins,  and  she  hated 
the  aristocracy.  She  was  continually  telling  the  King  that  a 
nobility  holding  three-fourths  of  the  land,  keeping  the  citi- 
zens and  peasants  in  shameful  subjection,  and  even  im- 


CHRISTIAN  II.  147 

posing  disgraceful  fetters  on  the  King,  was  unknown  in 
Holland. 

Thus  Christian  soon  began  to  entertain  the  idea  of  a  new 
order  of  things,  which  should  confer  such  an  amount  oi 
liberty  on  the  oppressed  classes  as  had  hitherto  been  im- 
possible, remove  the  restrictions  on  trade  and  commerce, 
and  put  an  end  to  the  exclusive  supremacy  of  the  nobles 
and  the  Church.  In  the  midst  of  the  first  efforts  in  this 
direction,  in  1517,  the  King's  mistress  died,  with  symptoms 
of  violence.  The  King's  mind  became  more  and  more 
gloomy ;  he  committed  acts  of  wild  passion  and  revenge 
against  distinguished  Danes  whom  he  suspected,  and 
although  one  party  in  the  court  contrived  to  make  him 
believe  that  she  had  not  been  faithful  to  him,  the  event 
greatly  increased  his  misanthropy. 

Just  then  the  reform  movement  began,  and  Christian 
took  it  up,  not  at  first  from  any  special  sympathy  with  it, 
but  in  order  with  its  aid  to  change  the  aspect  of  Scandina- 
vian affairs. 

His  first  idea  was  to  excite  the  different  nationalities 
against  each  other,  and  to  rule  each  by  the  other  two.  It 
was  a  method  that  had  been  repeatedly  tried.  He  intended 
to  avail  himself  of  the  Danish  hatred  of  the  Swedes  to 
bring  them  into  subjection,  and,  once  victorious,  to  rid 
himself  of  the  Danish  aristocracy. 

The  Union  monarchy  was  utterly  powerless  in  Sweden  ; 
the  most  prominent  nobles  had  gradually  established  a  sort 
of  regency  there,  which  exercised  regal  power  in  all  but 
name.  The  Stures  filled  this  office  of  regent  with  honour 
and  success,  but  as  is  generally  the  case  when  any  aristo- 
cratic family  exercises  supreme  power,  it  had  all  the  other 
families  against  it ;  the  clergy  especially  were  opposed  to 
the  Stures.  Their  government  was  inimical  to  the  soli- 
darity of  the  two  aristocratic  corporations,  and  was  especially 
directed  to  lessen  the  oppression  of  the  common  people  by 
the  Church.  This  laid  the  foundations  of  the  bitter  feud  in 
which  Christian  was  projecting  an  interference. 

The  Archbishop  of  Upsala,  Gustavus  Trolle,  was  at  open 
enmity  with  the  Regent.  His  party  wanted  to  dissolve  the 
Union  of  Calmar,  while  the  Bishop  stood  by  Denmark.  In 
November,  1517,  they  had  measured  their  strength  in  an 
assembly  of  the  states  at  Stockholm,  and  the  Archbishop  had 
been  defeated  and  deposed. 


148  THE  REFORMATION  IN  DENMARK. 

In  January,  1518,  Christian  landed  in  Sweden,  hoping 
that  the  feud  between  Trolle  and  Sture  would  furnish  him 
with  an  occasion  of  stirring  up  the  two  aristocracies  against 
each  other.  But  in  this  he  did  not  succeed.  Although 
really  King  of  Sweden,  he  did  not  once  enter  Stockholm. 
The  attempt  was  an  utter  failure,  and  the  hostages  who 
were  given  him  as  a  safe-conduct  at  his  departure,  and 
whom,  instead  of  sending  back,  he  illegally  carried  off  as 
prisoners,  were  his  only  booty.  Among  them  was  the  future 
king,  Gustavus  Vasa. 

His  next  scheme  was  more  successful.  He  sought  aid 
from  his  Burgundian  relations,  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and 
even  from  its  foe,  Francis  I.  ;  he  represented  to  them  that  it 
was  a  matter  in  which  all  kings  were  interested,  and  col- 
lected a  splendid  army  of  German  and  French  troops. 

In  January,  1520,  he  marched  into  West  Gothland, 
defeated  the  Swedes,  subjugated  the  southern  part  of  the 
kingdom,  and  made  his  entry  into  Stockholm.  The  Swedish 
nobles,  having  lost  their  leader  by  the  death  of  Sten  Sture, 
had  capitulated  at  Upsala  in  March. 

The  first  condition  which  the  King  swore  to  observe  was 
the  immunity  from  punishment  of  all  those  who  had  fought 
against  him.  Stockholm  was  only  opened  to  him  on  his 
giving  this  assurance.  But  now  his  utter  want  of  good  faith 
appeared ;  the  amnesty  did  not  prevent  him  from  making  a 
sanguinary  attack  on  the  leaders  of  the  Swedish  nobles,  and 
he  had  an  abominable  piece  of  sophistry  ready  to  absolve 
him  from  his  promise.  In  the  feud  between  Sten  Sture  and 
Gustavus  Trolle,  the  latter  had  obtained  a  papal  ban  against 
the  party  of  the  former,  and  the  King  of  Denmark  had  been 
named  as  executor  of  the  sentence  ;  this  was  now  used  as  a 
handle  for  his  perfidy.  The  King's  adviser  was  an  unscru- 
pulous adventurer,  Dietrich  Slaphok,  whom  Madame  Sigbritt 
had  raised  from  the  very  dre£s  of  the  people.  He  persuaded 
the  King  that  he  had  taken  the  oath  in  favour  of  his  foes  as 
King  of  Denmark,  but  that  as  executor  of  the  papal  ban  he 
was  not  bound  to  spare  those  against  whom  the  sentence 
had  been  pronounced ;  and  amongst  the  various  proposals 
made  to  the  King  this  appeared  to  him  to  be  the  cleverest, 

On  the  4th  of  November,  1520,  he  had  himself  solemnly 
crowned,  and  all  kinds  of  festivities  followed  for  two  or  three 
days.  On  the  yth  he  began  to  show  open  hostility  to  the 
adherents  and  party  of  the  Stures,  and  on  the  8th  began 


CHRISTIAN  II.  149 

those  savage  executions  of  eminent  ecclesiastics,  nobles, 
and  citizens  known  in  history  as  the  Massacre  of  Stockholm, 
and  which  sowed  the  seeds  of  an  indescribable  hatred  of 
Denmark  in  Sweden,  not  yet  extinguished. 

Christian  thought  that  the  masses  would  have  rejoiced  over 
the  fate  of  their  noble  oppressors,  but  in  this  he  was  mistaken ; 
a  feeling  of  the  deepest  indignation  pervaded  the  whole 
of  Sweden  ;  there  was  no  thought  of  parties  or  of  rights  ;  it 
was  enough  that  they  were  Swedes,  who,  through  an  un- 
paralleled outrage,  had  bled  on  the  scaffold.  The  echo  of 
this  deed  resounded  throughout  Europe,  and  not  least  in 
Denmark  itself.  Although  the  Danes  had  gladly  taken 
part  in  curbing  Swedish  arrogance,  it  was  quite  otherwise 
now  they  saw  through  the  game  the  King  was  playing  :  they 
thought  that  he  might  attempt  in  Copenhagen  to-morrow 
what  he  had  done  in  Stockholm  to-day,  and  on  his  return 
he  found  the  Danish  nobles  deeply  embittered  against  him. 

He  now  tried  a  second  experiment;  he  began  to  dally 
with  Protestantism.  Not  that  he  was  convinced  of,  or  had 
any  real  interest  in,  the  new  doctrine ;  he  had  just  mas- 
sacred the  Swedish  nobility  wholesale  from  pious  regard  to 
the  papal  ban,  and  now  he  all  of  a  sudden  conceived  an 
enthusiasm  for  the  heretics,  the  Pope's  enemies,  to  whom 
the  ban  would  have  justly  applied.  The  change  was  too 
transparent  to  deceive  any  one. 

Protestant  movements  had  taken  place  among  the  masses 
at  Copenhagen.  There  was  sufficient  intercourse  with 
Germany  to  give  rise  to  them,  and  the  oppression  of  the 
aristocratic  ecclesiastical  government,  with  all  its  abuses, 
was  felt  here  as  elsewhere.  All  the  North  had  been  early 
infected  with  the  opposition  spirit  of  the  new  doctrine ;  the 
duchies  of  Schleswig  and  Holstein  first,  thence  it  spread  to 
Jutland,  and  it  was  not  too  far  for  it  to  leap  over  to  the 
islands  with  which  there  was^o  much  intercourse,  and 
where  the  same  grievances  existed. 

But  Christian  II.  was  not  the  man  to  lead  the  movement, 
and  the  new  doctrine  could  not  have  had  a  worse  fate  than 
to  make  its  entry  into  Denmark  soiled  by  such  hands  and 
weighted  with  such  a  burden.  His  interest  in  Protestantism 
did  not  extend  beyond  some  futile  manoeuvres,  but  he  took 
more  vigorous  measures  against  the  privileges  of  the  nobles 
and  the  clergy. 

In  1522  he  instituted  new  commercial  regulations  which 


150  THE  REFORMATION  IN  DENMARK. 

were  intended  to  relieve  the  city  merchants  of  the  mono- 
polies of  the  clergy  and  the  nobles,  and  from  foreign 
competition ;  then  he  limited  the  privileges  of  the  nobles  in 
exacting  service,  in  the  chase,  and  in  the  use  of  wood,  for  in 
all  these  respects  they  oppressed  the  heavily  burdened 
peasant;  he  extended  Copenhagen,  formed  a  project  for 
constructing  a  harbour;  in  short,  he  broke  with  all  the 
traditions  of  the  past  in  the  country. 

But  none  of  his  schemes  prospered.  Even  the  good  that 
he  did  only  appeared  like  a  fresh  artifice  to  defend  himself 
from  the  increasing  number  of  his  enemies.  The  citizen 
class  felt  that  his  only  object  was  to  entice  them  to  oppose 
the  Church  and  the  nobles,  and  even  those  who  secretly 
approved  of  his  innovations  shunned  contact  with  the 
assassin  of  Stockholm.  From  that  time  no  blessing  rested 
on  his  labours ;  his  dalliance  with  Protestantism  estranged 
the  Catholics,  yet  did  not  gain  the  hearts  of  the  Protestants. 
His  reforms  embittered  the  aristocracy,  both  spiritual  and 
temporal,  yet  did  not  gain  him  favour  with  the  masses.  In 
Sweden  a  party  had  already  gathered  around  the  fugitive 
Gustavus  Vasa,  which  threatened  a  dangerous  revolt,  when 
the  universal  discontent  in  his  own  country  came  to  an 
outbreak. 

The  nobles  in  Jutland  had  risen,  and  were  soon  joined  by 
the  prelates  and  barons  of  the  islands;  in  January,  1523, 
they  renounced  their  allegiance  to  the  King,  on  account  of 
his  violation  of  the  bond,  his  tyrannical  conduct,  his  threats 
to  the  nobles,  clergy,  &c.  The  revolutionists  offered  the 
crown  to  the  King's  uncle,  Duke  Frederic,  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein ;  he  accepted  it,  which  settled  the  matter,  though 
Christian,  forsaken  by  all,  ignominiously  craved  pardon,  and 
in  pitiful  accents  promised  amendment. 

In  April,  1523,  Christian  fled  without  hazarding  any 
attempts  at  self-defence,  leaving  the  field  open  to  his 
successor.  During  his  exile  he  penitently  returned  to  the 
Romish  Church,  and  in  1531  landed  in  Norway  with  a  fleet 
and  army,  and  instigated  a  rising  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
peasants  against  the  King  of  Denmark,  but  in  the  spring  of 
1532  he  was  compelled  to  lay  down  his  arms  and  return  as 
a  prisoner  to  Copenhagen.  He  remained  in  imprisonment 
till  his  death  in  1559. 

With  the  accession  of  Frederic  I.  the  relation  between 
Denmark  and  the  duchies  was  again  introduced,  from  which 


FREDERIC   I.  151 

they  are  suffering  to  this  day.*  When  Christian  II.  began 
to  reign,  in  1513,  a  separation  happily  took  place;  the 
duchies  had  their  own  duke,  but  now  their  duke  was  again 
king,  and  the  unfortunate  personal  union  was  permanently 
established. 

The  new  King  was  an  entirely  different  person  from  his 
nephew ;  he  was  circumspect,  prudent,  considerate,  and  con- 
ciliatory ;  not  the  man  to  undertake  an  enterprise  lightly ; 
he  was  ready  to  make  concessions,  though  sufficiently 
jealous  of  his  own  power  never  to  endanger  it.  The  great 
point  was  that  he  would  probably  bring  Protestantism  to 
the  Danish  throne.  The  duchies  were  already  Lutheran ; 
the  clergy  had  only  reluctantly  consented  to  the  Duke's 
election,  and  now  he  was  about  to  ascend  the  throne  of 
Denmark  it  was  scarcely  likely  that  he  would  uphold  the 
ancient  Church. 

Frederic  I.  acted  in  his  difficult  post  with  unusual 
dexterity ;  he  renounced  all  foreign  schemes ;  he  gave  up 
the  Union ;  dominion  in  Norway  and  Sweden,  the  hostile 
intentions  of  his  predecessor  towards  the  Hanse  Towns  and 
the  native  nobles,  were  all  allowed  to  drop,  and  all  his 
attention  was  concentrated  on  the  one  point  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal reform.  He  concluded  a  treaty  with  Gustavus  Vasa,  by 
which  Sweden  was  declared  independent,  and  another  with 
Norway,  which  gave  it  the  right  of  election  ;  he  also  made 
concessions  to  Lubeck,  as  he  did  on  every  question  of 
foreign  policy,  but  on  the  reform  question  he  would  not 
yield. 

He  had,  indeed,  been  compelled  to  take  an  oath,  among 
other  things  in  the  bond,  that  he  would  not  introduce  the 
Reformation  nor  attack  Catholicism ;  but  the  oath  was  not 
broken  by  his  doing  nothing  to  hinder  its  progress,  and 
he  could  not  be  reproached  because  reform  spread  more 
and  more  widely  in  Schleswig,  Holstein,  and  Jutland,  or 
because  he  would  not  dam  up  the  stream  which,  without  his 
aid,  was  undermining  the  Church  with  which  he  was  person- 
ally and  politically  at  enmity.  We  can  scarcely  be  mis- 
taken in  supposing  that  he  was  influenced  by  two  considera- 
tions. In  the  first  place  he  was  devoted  to  Lutheranism 
body  and  soul,  and  then  he  saw  as  clearly  as  Christian  II. 
that  it  would  be  an  immense  advantage  to  his  crown  if  he 

*  Written  in  1859  or  1860.— TR. 


152  THE  REFORMATION  IN  DENMARK. 

could  crush  the  great  aristocratic  Church  system,  put  an 
end  to  its  political  power,  and  confiscate  its  lands  to  the 
crown,  and  thus  so  completely  lame  one  arm  of  the  aristo- 
cratic opposition,  that  the  crown  would  finally  be  able  to 
vanquish  the  other.  By  these  circuitous  paths  he  was 
more  successful  than  his  predecessor  in  accomplishing  an 
object  no  less  in  accordance  with  his  personal  convictions 
than  calculated  to  secure  the  authority  of  a  hitherto  power- 
less crown. 

He  did  not  attack  Catholicism,  but  he  did  not  prevent 
Lutheran  preachers  from  coming  over  from  the  Continent  to 
the  islands  to  spread  their  doctrines.  How  could  he  dis- 
miss the  professors  of  his  own  creed  ? 

All  the  nobles  in  Jutland  had  already  joined  the  Protest- 
ant cause,  and  in  the  islands  the  dioceses  of  the  orthodox 
bishops  were  continually  diminishing,  when  at  the  end  of 
1527,  a  Diet  was  convened  at  Odensee  for  the  final  settle- 
ment of  the  question. 

At  this  diet  Frederic  demanded  toleration  for  Lutheranism, 
which  was  granted  by  a  formal  edict.*  This  gave  the  signal 
for  Catholicism  to  be  swamped  by  the  new  doctrine. 

At  the  death  of  Frederic,  in  1533,  a  crisis  took  place. 
The  clergy  took  up  the  cause  of  the  second  son,  John,  who 
was  a  Catholic ;  the  Protestant  party  advocated  that  of  the 
Protestant  Prince  Christian.  Foreign  influences  decided 
between  them. 

The  difficulty  with  Lubeck  induced  the  aristocracy  to 
favour  the  election  of  Christian  III.,  1534-59,  who,  with 
Swedish  help,  and  by  a  successful  diversion  to  Lubeck, 
occasioned  the  fall  of  Wullenweber  and  gradually  recon-. 
quered  the  country. 

The  Reformation  was  now  completely  introduced,  not 
with  violence,  but  its  progress  was  irresistible.  The 
Catholic  Church  was  reduced  to  a  ruin,  and  the  supremacy 
which  she  had  shared  with  the  nobles  overthrown.  An 
independent  Danish  monarchy  was  established,  supported, 
especially  in  Jutland  and  the  Duchies,  by  a  proud  secular 
nobility ;  one  of  the  enemies  of  the  throne  was  defeated, 
and  its  spoils  served  to  endow  the  monarchy. 

*  Gieseler. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SWEDEN.* 

The  Revolt  under" Gustavus  Vasa,  1523-60 — His  Character  and  Policy. — 
1521  Regent,  1523  King  of  Sweden. — Internal  and  external  Em- 
barrassment of  his  Position. — Struggle  with  the  Clergy. — Decree  of 
the  Diet  of  Westeras,  1527. — The  Reformation. — Extension  of  the 
Royal  Power.  —  Independence  and  internal  Prosperity  of  the 
Country. 

'"PHE  struggle  for  the  Crown  and  the  Reformation  in 
J-  Sweden  was  on  a  far  larger  scale  than  in  Denmark, 
and  of  far  more  moment,  on  account  of  the  great  man  who 
headed  it,  and  the  power  which  arose  out  of  it. 

We  left  Sweden  at  the  massacre  of  Stockholm.  This 
fearfully  inflamed  the  old  hatred  of  Denmark,  and  above  all 
party  conflicts,  which  were  not  wanting,  the  idea  of  shaking 
off  the  yoke  of  this  cruel  government  was  predominant. 
But  Christian  held  Stockholm,  the  southern  parts  of  the 
country  and  the  harbours  were  garrisoned,  and  in  the  north, 
though  there  were  no  Danes,  there  were  but  few  towns,  and 
but  few  centres  where  means  of  resistance  could  be  gathered 
together ;  a  sturdy  race  of  men  lived  widely  scattered  in 
their  solitary  farms  and  villages,  but  so  dispersed  that  the 
south  could  not  look  to  them  for  aid. 

But  at  this  juncture  one  man  alone  succeeded  in  deliver- 
ing the  people  from  the  most  hateful  foreign  tyranny, 
in  securing  the  independence  of  Sweden,  and  creating  a 
splendid  power,  at  a  period  when  no  one  had  ventured  to 
lift  a  hand  against  the  enemy. 

Among  the  hostages  treacherously  carried  away  by  Chris- 

*  Geschichte  Konig  Gustavs  L,  v.  Ol.  Celsius,  iibers.  i.  ii.  Leipzig, 
1749.  Fryxell,  Gustav  Wasa's  Leben,  1831.  Geijer,  Geschichte  Swe- 
dens,  Deutch  von  Leffler.  Hamburg,  1832. 


154  THE  REFORMATION  IN   SWEDEN. 

tian  II.  was  a  youth  named  Gustavus  Erichson,  born  in 
1490.  He  belonged  to  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
noble  families,  connected  with  the  Stures  by  party  and 
family  ties,  and  bore  on  his  arms  a  sheaf  or  bundle  of 
flax  called  "  Wase,"  hence  the  surname  of  Vasa. 

He  was  taken  as  a  prisoner  to  Copenhagen  in  1518, 
and  passed  a  dreary  time  in  prison.  His  indignation  at 
his  country's  disgrace  gave  him  strength  for  the  most  daring 
enterprises,  to  flee  alone  over  land  and  sea,  to  seek  foreign 
aid  for  his  fatherland,  and  afterwards  to  undertake  to  libe- 
rate it  himself.  In  September,  15 19,  he  arrived  at  Lubeck  in 
disguise.  All  opposition  to  the  hated  Christian  was  wel- 
come there,  and  they  refused  to  deliver  up  the  prisoner  ; 
but  more  than  this  they  would  not  do.  A  powerful  king- 
dom in  Sweden  was  as  little  desirable  as  a  powerful  king- 
dom in  Denmark  ;  on  this  point  the  maritime  merchants 
agreed  in  opinion  with  the  jealous  aristocracy  of  the 
northern  empire.  Besides,  nothing  was  known  as  yet  of 
the  foreign  fugitive ;  he  had  still  to  show  of  what  he  was 
capable. 

When  the  news  reached  him  of  the  massacre  of  Stock- 
holm, he  returned  unrecognised  to  his  country.  All  his 
family  had  been  destroyed  in  one  day ;  his  father  and 
brother-in-law  were  murdered ;  his  mother  and  sisters  taken 
prisoners  to  Denmark ;  all  his  friends  were  butchered,  and 
a  price  set  upon  his  own  head.  Pursued  by  the  King's 
myrmidons,  surrounded  by  treachery  and  treason,  he  wan- 
dered about  for  months  as  a  day  labourer  and  vagrant, 
suffering  dangers  and  privations  of  every  kind. 

At  length  he  suddenly  appeared  in  his  own  character  at 
a  great  meeting  at  Dalecarlia,  in  the  north  of  Sweden. 

He  was  singularly  endowed  by  nature ;  even  in  early 
youth  his  imposing  presence,  and  the  charm  of  his  appear- 
ance, had  made  a  great  impression  upon  all.  He  had  not 
failed  to  make  some  impression  even  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  Lubeck,  who  had  regarded  the  views  of  the  friendless 
youth  with  the  cool,  calculating  spirit  of  shopkeepers.  He 
was  a  specimen  of  a  powerful  Northman,  with  a  singularly 
attractive  presence,  a  rare  gift  of  speech,  and  a  natural 
tact  in  intercourse  with  all  men,  the  most  distinguished  as 
well  as  the  most  humble,  and  by  skilful  negotiations  he 
contrived  to  find  a  solution  for  every  difficulty. 

He  now  appeare^    in   his   peasant's  jerkin  as  the  deli- 


GUSTAVUS  VASA.  155 

verer  of  his  country,  and  stirred  up  the  north  of  Sweden 
against  the  Danes.  Similar  stories  are  told  of  him  during 
the  time  of  preparation  to  those  of  King  Alfred  when  in 
a  like  situation;  how  he  gave  vent  to  his  grief  in  old 
national  songs,  discovered  people's  opinions  by  cunning 
questions,  tried  to  gain  them  by  burning  words,  wandered 
from  farm  to  farm,  here  and  there  making  himself  known, 
gaining  adherents  everywhere,  but  particularly  in  Dale- 
carlia.  With  these  northern  dalesmen,  with  rustic  equip- 
ments, unused  to  military  discipline,  but  possessing  great 
physical  strength,  and  implacably  hating  the  Danes,  he 
undertook  a  desperate  campaign  against  a  considerable 
army,  which  was  in  possession  of  the  most  important 
places  in  the  country,  and  by  virtue  of  tremendous  exer- 
tions, and  the  perplexities  in  Denmark,  the  daring  enter- 
prise was  successful. 

He  was  elected  regent  in  August,  1521,  and  proclaimed 
king  in  June,  1523;  soon  afterwards,  scarcely  three  years 
after  his  first  promotion,  he  made  his  entry  into  Stockholm 
as  ruler  of  the  country  amidst  the  rejoicings  of  the  people. 

It  was  only  with  reluctance  that  the  nobles  had  con- 
sented to  his  election,  but  the  voice  of  the  people  was 
too  powerful  to  be  overruled,  and  for  them  a  king  of 
Sweden  like  Gustavus  was  the  only  pledge  of  national 
independence. 

But  the  throne  was  at  first  nothing  but  an  empty  title 
to  which  the  wearer  must  give  significance.  Gustavus 
found  a  country  in  his  hands  which  had  long  had  a  vacil- 
lating connection  with  Denmark,  perpetually  severed  and 
renewed.  It  had  been  sometimes  ruled  by  strangers,  some- 
times by  natives,  so  that  at  last  nobody  knew  whose  right 
it  was  to  rule.  Law  and  right  had  almost  disappeared ; 
every  one  had  forgotten  how  to  govern  or  to  be  governed. 
Amidst  the  manifold  changes  of  the  Union  kingdom,  no 
government  had  attained  to  effective  power  or  general 
respect ;  every  class  of  the  people  had  become  accus- 
tomed to  take  care  of  itself  as  it  best  could  ;  the  nobles 
would  submit  to  no  one ;  the  Church  had  become  a 
power  partly  independent  of  the  country,  and  preyed  upon 
the  kingdom  as  if  it  had  been  but  a  province  ;  the  people 
were  as  independent  as  the  two  ruling  aristocracies  per- 
mitted. 

And   what   means   could  Gustavus  Vasa   find   for    the 


156  TPIE   REFORMATION  IN   SWEDEN. 

construction  of  a  new  edifice  in  this  country,  in  which 
anarchy  had  reigned  unrestrained  for  a  century  and  a  half? 
Two-thirds  of  the  land  were  in  the  possession  of  a  proud 
and  powerful  clergy,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  remainder 
in  that  of  a  wealthy  and  ambitious  nobility.  The  regular 
expenditure  of  the  Crown  was  60,000  marks,  its  income 
24,000.  The  debt  to  Lubeck  for  aid  during  the  war 
amounted  to  1,000,000  marks.  The  south  of  Sweden 
was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Danes  ;  commerce,  the  coast- 
ing trade,  and  the  harbours  were  monopolized  by  Lubeck. 

When,  therefore,  Gustavus  Vasa  was  raised  to  the  throne 
amidst  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  he  found  a  crown 
without  significance,  a  country  unaccustomed  to  the  re- 
straint of  law,  a  throne  , deeply  in  debt,  liabilities  which 
amounted  to  fifty  times  more  than  he  could  raise. 

His  policy  was  simple.  He  purposed  to  overthrow  the 
supremacy  of  the  clergy  in  order  to  enrich  himself  with 
the  spoils,  and,  if  it  could  not  be  helped,  to  share  them 
with  the  nobles ;  but  at  all  events  to  take  care  that  the 
citizens  and  peasants  should  be  gainers  by  the  transaction, 
that  they  might  not  be  estranged  from  him  as  they  were 
from  Christian  II.  If  this  object  could  be  attained, 
something  might  be  made  of  the  Crown  from  its  own 
resources. 

Gustavus  Vasa  was  not  a  man  with  a  keen  sense  of  the 
distinctions  between  religious  creeds.  His  character  was 
simple,  moral,  and  earnest.  Even  in  his  youth,  with  all  his 
taste  for  lofty  schemes,  with  all  the  fervid  glow  of  his  love 
of  honour,  his  actions  had  been  guided  by  a  certain  cool 
sagacity  and  sober  determination.  His  was  a  character  in 
which  a  strong  tyrannical  vein  was  united  with  wonderful 
tact  and  a  habit  of  self-control,  qualities  which  are  seldom 
found  together.  He  had  never  tormented  himself  with  the 
religious  controversies  which  were  then  agitating  the  world, 
but  it  did  not  escape  his  quick  perception  that  the  way  to 
the  proper  development  of  the  regal  power  was  over  the 
necks  of  the  clergy,  and  that  the  universal  animosity  of 
the  ancient  Church  was  a  mighty  weapon  in  the  hands  of 
the  secular  power. 

He  eagerly  adopted  this  political  view  of  Protestantism, 
and  nowhere  else  was  it  so  consistently  acted  upon ;  but  it 
contained  a  principle  of  universal  application.  The  statesman 
might  ask,  Are  states  to  be  ruined  that  a  time-honoured 


GUSTAVUS  VASA.  157 

abuse  may  continue  ;  are  the  people  to  be  consumed  by  the 
monopolies  of  the  clergy,  who  not  only  have  the  con- 
sciences of  the  people  in  their  keeping,  but  also  usurp  their 
means  of  living  ?  The  ancient  amalgamation  of  spiritual  and 
temporal  power  was  now  avenged.  If  it  was  called  robbery, 
the  people  looked  upon  it  as  a  much  greater  robbery  that, 
by  surreptitious  documents  and  artifices  of  all  sorts,  the 
clergy  had  obtained  possession  of  nearly  all  the  land. 

The  combination  of  prudent  foresight  and  relentless 
energy  with  which  Gustavus  Vasa  went  to  work  is  ad- 
mirable. There  was  something  magical  in  the  sway  he 
exercised  ;  he  had  the  most  seductive  power  of  speech, 
which  enchanted  the  masses,  though  some  of  his  actions 
betrayed  the  claws  of  the  despot. 

But  his  plans  were  more  easily  conceived  than  carried 
out.  The  nobles  probably  shrank  back  when  they  found 
that  the  clerical  power  was  to  be  undermined.  Was  not 
their  own  position  based  upon  similar  foundations,  and 
might  they  not  well  say,  "  If  the  clergy  are  overthrown,  who 
will  protect  us  ?  " 

The  brave  peasantry  who  had  risen  up  against  the 
Danes  with  Gustavus  in  Dalecarlia  clung  to  their  ancient 
faith ;  they  had  not  yet  come  in  contact  with  the  Reforma- 
tion. If  the  priests  succeeded  in  influencing  these  simple, 
unsuspecting  people,  the  hands  which  had  once  borne  Gus- 
tavus Vasa  aloft  would  probably  be  lifted  up  against  him. 
And  in  isolated  cases  this  did  occur.  What  could  he  do  ? 
Turn  to  the  citizen  class  ?  There  was  none,  for  Sweden 
had  no  trade,  no  marts,  no  fleet ;  all  its  commerce  was  in 
the  hands  of  Lubeck. 

Thus  it  was  necessary  to  proceed  cautiously,  and  by 
indirect  paths,  to  allow  time  for  the  state  of  opinion  that  he 
required  to  grow  up  gradually.  Without  expressing  any 
opinion  of  his  own,  he  secretly  favoured  the  Lutherans 
while  he  ostensibly  maintained  the  best  understanding  with 
the  Pope.  That  eager  desire  for  reform  and  excitement 
which  we  have  seen  in  central  and  southern  Germany  did 
not  exist  among  the  masses  in  the  north ;  the  people 
required  to  be  inoculated,  and  Gustavus  took  care  that  it 
should  be  done  with  consummate  prudence,  tempered  with 
zeal.  He  had  been  preparing  the  way  for  Lutheranism 
ever  since  1523,  without  undue  haste,  with  the  patient 
persistence  that  suited  the  people.  Sweden  had  a  small 


153  THE  REFORMATION  IN   SWEDEN. 

reform  party  even  among  the  clergy  •  as,  for  instance, 
Lorenz  Anderson  and  the  brothers  Peterson. 

Gustavus  got  men  like  these  to  preach  against  abuses 
and  the  sale  of  pardons,  moderating  their  zeal  by  sensible 
admonitions ;  and  when  the  clergy  complained,  he  said  that 
if  they  were  abuses  that  were  attacked,  let  them  be  reformed, 
but  if  not,  let  it  be  proved  from  the  Bible.  He  gave  the 
greatest  possible  publicity  to  the  strife  between  the  old  and 
new  doctrines.  While  the  subject  was  being  agitated  in 
discussions,  sermons,  and  pamphlets,  he  concealed  his  own 
convictions,  and  it  was  only  on  one  point  that  he  spoke 
out — on  the  right  of  the  State  to  the  Church  property.  At 
two  Diets  in  1526  a  very  heavy  tax  was  imposed  upon  the 
clergy.  Prelates  and  monasteries  were  to  pay  eight-ninths 
of  their  income  ;  but  this  was  the  most  unwise  thing  he 
could  do,  for  it  excited  a  revolt  which  was  headed  by  two 
of  the  bishops. 

These  leaders  of  the  rebels  treated  the  saviour  of  the 
country  as  a  vagabond  usurper ;  they  thought  that  they 
themselves  were  safe,  even  should  others  lose  their  heads. 
But,  like  Napoleon,  Gustavus  Vasa  could  not  see  why 
bishops  should  not  lose  their  heads  as  well  as  other  people. 
He  quelled  the  revolt  in  Dalecarlia,  and  had  the  leaders 
tried  by  a  secular  tribunal,  by  which  they  were  condemned 
to  death.  In  February,  1527,  the  sentence  was  executed; 
but  the  misguided  multitude  went  unpunished. 

In  June  of  the  same  year  Gustavus  convoked  the  Diet  at 
Westeras,  at  which,  besides  the  clergy  and  nobles,  represen- 
tatives of  the  citizen  and  peasant  class  appeared  for  the 
first  time.  The  citizens  felt  flattered  by  the  honour ;  the 
peasants  regarded  it  more  as  a  debt  owing  to  them  for  their 
help ;  but  the  interests  of  both  were  identified  with  those 
of  the  King,  and  in  case  of  necessity  they  were  disposed  to 
impress  upon  the  clergy  by  force  the  sacrifice  that  was 
required  from  them.  It  is  with  the  decrees  of  this  Diet 
that  the  historical  greatness  of  Sweden  begins,  and  it 
steadily  increased  up  to  the  time  of  the  misiortunes  and 
blunders  of  Charles  XII. 

At  this  Diet,  purposely  convened  at  a  remote  little  town 
to  guard  against  any  compulsion  from  without,  the  King 
brought  forward  the  demands  which  formed  part  of  his 
programme,  and  which  were  necessary  to  give  security  to 
the  Crown,  to  insure  a  proportion  between  the  income  and 


GUSTAVUS  VASA.  159 

expenditure  of  the  State,  to  meet  a  daily  increasing  deficit, 
to  discharge  the  colossal  debt  to  Lubeck,  and  at  length  to 
put  an  end  to  its  burdensome  monopoly  of  trade ;  and  all 
this  was  to  be  done  at  the  expense  of  the  enormous  wealth 
of  the  Church.  The  discord  in  the  Church  was  also  men- 
tioned in  the  King's  communication,  and  he  offered  to 
prove  that  he  was  not  a  heretic,  as  had  been  slanderously 
reported,  but  believed  the  pure  word  of  God.  The  existing 
discord,  however,  must  be  put  a  stop  to. 

But  his  views  found  no  favour.  The  nobles  expressed 
their  displeasure,  the  clergy  were  turbulent  and  excited, 
and  declared  that  in  the  matter  of  Church  property  they 
would  only  yield  to  force.  The  King  then  began  to  address 
the  Assembly.  He  possessed  not  merely  courage  such  as 
few  historical  personages  have  exhibited,  but  that  gift  of 
eloquence  and  personal  influence  over  men  which  is  peculiar 
to  those  who  are  born  to  rule.  The  Swedes  themselves 
have  described  to  us  how  the  masses  were  moved  by  his 
stately  presence  and  eloquent  words  ;  he  had  given  proof  of 
this  when,  as  an  outlaw  and  hunted  fugitive,  he  had  incited 
his  down-trodden  countrymen  to  fight  against  the  Danes, 
and  he  gave  proof  of  it  now  in  contending  with  the  eccle- 
siastical aristocracy. 

He  stated  that  he  had  wished  to  make  a  final  experi- 
ment, whether  it  were  possible  to  reign  there  as  king.  He 
considered  that  the  experiment  had  failed.  Rain  and  sun- 
shine, famine  and  pestilence,  all  were  laid  to  his  charge, 
and  every  priest  was  allowed  to  sit  in  judgment  on  him  ; 
yet  it  was  not  from  ambitious  motives  that  he  had  ascended 
the  throne,  but  that  he  might  save  Sweden  ;  he  had  sacri- 
ficed his  patrimony  to  the  public  good,  and  he  was  repaid 
with  ingratitude.  Sweden  was  not  yet  ripe  for  a  king,  and 
with  a  voice  almost  choked  with  tears,  he  said,  "  I  must  lay 
down  this  crown." 

With  these  words  he  left  the  astonished  assembly,  which 
immediately  broke  up  in  confusion.  Subsequent  scenes  in 
the  Diet  when  left  to  itself  showed  what  would  become  of 
Sweden  without  a  king.  The  four  estates  fell  together  by 
the  ears.  Amidst  the  stormy  scenes  that  took  place,  not  a 
single  decree  was  formed,  and  the  result  was  that  the  dis- 
sensions between  parties  became  greater  than  ever ;  this 
anarchy  would  soon  prevail  over  the  whole  of  Sweden,  if 
some  powerful  arm  did  not  intervene. 


160  THE  REFORMATION  IN  SWEDEN. 

The  result  that  the  King  expected  soon  followed.  A 
division  took  place  among  the  nobles,  and  a  large  party  of 
them  were  of  opinion  that  the  clergy  must  make  sacrifices  ; 
no  State  could  exist  with  so  sparse  a  population  and  a 
sterile  soil  if  two-thirds  of  the  land  continued  to  be  held 
in  mortmain.  Thus  the  nobles  deserted  the  clergy,  and 
it  was  quite  intelligible  that  the  citizens  and  peasants,  who 
had  everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose,  should  be 
impatient,  and  proceed  from  threats  to  blows. 

Three  stormy  days  after  the  King's  abdication,  he  was 
urged  again  to  appear  before  the  Diet.  A  new  oath  of 
allegiance  was  taken,  and  his  proposals  now  met  with  a 
different  fate.  Deserted  by  all  parties,  the  clergy  gave 
way,  and  were  so  abject  as  to  be  quite  undignified.  It 
generally  happens  that  political  parties,  who  have  for  a 
long  time  insolently  rejected  all  reasonable  terms,  suddenly 
come  round  to  ignominious  submission.  The  clergy  in  this 
case  submitted  to  conditions  which  entirely  reversed  their 
position  in  the  State,  and  deprived  them  of  everything 
for  which  they  had  been  passionately  contending. 

The  Diet  decreed  precisely  in  accordance  with  the  King's 
demands  : — 

1.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  all  the  estates  in  common  to 
quell  all  rebellion,  and  to  defend  the  Government  from  foes 
from  within  and  from  without. 

2.  That  monasteries  and  Church  property  are  entirely  at 
the  disposal  of  the  King. 

3.  That    the   nobles   are  justified    in  taking  possession 
of   their   estates,   which    have   become   Church    property 
since  1454. 

4.  That  the  preaching  of  the  Lutheran  doctrine  be  per- 
mitted. 

The  bishops  signed  a  special  declaration,  that  "they 
were  willing  to  be  as  rich  or  as  poor  as  his  grace  the  King 
willed ;  but,  with  their  diminished  incomes,  they  wished  to 
be  released  from  the  duty  of  attendance  at  the  Diet." 

With  this  the  ancient  clerical  estate  of  Sweden  collapsed. 
The  Church  still  existed  in  sufficient  splendour,  but  it  had 
no  longer  any  political  existence  ;  it  was  too  poor  and  too 
entirely  dependent  on  the  King,  who,  as  may  be  supposed, 
took  abundant  advantage  of  the  concessions  of  the  Diet  of 
Westerns.  The  victory  of  the  Crown  was  obtained  at  a 
price  which  might  be  afterwards  regretted,  but  it  was  then 


GUSTAVUS  VASA.  l6l 

an  inevitable  necessity ;  the  power  of  the  nobles  was  in- 
creased by  the  defeat  of  the  Church,  for  they  shared  its 
spoils  with  the  Crown.  They  gave  the  succeeding  Kings  of 
Sweden  plenty  of  trouble,  but  it  required  a  Charles  XII., 
with  his  disregard  of  all  the  rights  of  the  country,  to  make 
the  Swedish  nobles  dangerous  again.  Stormy  scenes  still 
took  place  in  the  Diet,  but  Gustavus  obtained  the  mastery. 
He  was  not  crowned  till  1528,  and  then  the  favourable 
aspect  of  his  sway  began  to  be  apparent.  The  Diets  of 
Oerebro,  1540,  and  Westeras,  1544,  settled  the  succession  of 
the  Swedish  crown  on  his  house,  and  abolished  the  elective 
monarchy.  Meanwhile  the  Reformation  made  astonishing 
progress ;  though  it  had  only  begun  as  a  small  sect,  it 
was  now  dominant  in  the  nation.  For  the  first  time  since 
there  had  been  a  kingdom  of  Sweden  the  country  knew 
what  it  was  to  have  a  monarchical  government  of  the 
modern  stamp  ;  she  enjoyed  for  the  first  time  conscientious 
administration  of  the  laws,  legal  equality  and  domestic  peace 
and  security.  The  King  had  a  handsome  income,  a  trust- 
worthy military  force,  and  faithful  and  devoted  officials. 
With  these  means  the  foundations  were  laid  of  a  sovereign 
power,  such  as  had  never  before  existed. 

The  debt  to  Lubeck  was  next  discharged,  and  Sweden 
was  relieved  from  the  monopolies  of  the  Hanse  Towns  ; 
commercial  treaties  were  entered  into  with  Denmark ; 
Russia,  England,  and  the  Netherlands  ;  a  market  was 
opened  for  iron,  the  chief  product  of  the  country,  and  the 
budding  trade  of  Sweden  put  under  the  protection  of  a 
little  fleet  of  its  own.  All  foreign  and  commercial  yokes 
were  thrown  off,  domestic  resources  developed,  and  all  that 
can  conduce  to  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  a  State  wisely 
fostered  and  encouraged  until  the  death  of  Gustavus  in 
September,  1560.  During  the  whole  of  the  King's  reign 
every  one  had  some  complaint  against  him ;  the  clergy  did 
not  forget  their  losses,  the  nobles  were  jealous  of  the 
supreme  power  of  the  Crown,  the  citizens  and  peasants 
took  the  blessings  of  the  new  government  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  grumbled  at  fresh  taxes  and  burdens,  every 
one  rebelled  against  the  novel  administration  of  a  strictly 
monarchical  government ;  but  no  sooner  had  the  King  closed 
his  eyes,  than  the  surpassing  lustre  of  his  name  was  ac- 
knowledged. The  contemporary  generation  certainly  had 
to  pass  through  a  painful  transition  period,  but  the  founda- 

M 


1 62  THE  REFORMATION  IN   SWEDEN. 

tions  of  the  power  were  then  laid  which  was  established  in 
the  seventeenth  century.  The  great  north-eastern  kingdom 
of  the  coming  age  was  now  founded,  and  it  took  many 
misfortunes  and  disasters  to  reduce  it  to  ruins.  This  was 
the  reason  why  the  time  of  peaceful  labour  and  construc- 
tion under  Gustavus  Vasa  was  afterwards  so  gratefully 
recurred  to. 

This  was  the  course  events  took  in  the  Scandinavian 
empire,  among  a  race  of  Germanic  origin,  and  which, 
though  politically  distinct  from  Germany,  had  in  many 
respects  grown  up  on  similar  principles.  It  now  received 
the  germs  of  a  new  political  existence  from  the  Reforma- 
tion. In  Denmark  as  in  Sweden,  a  great  political  re- 
generation was  connected  with  the  religious  revolution ; 
in  neither  country  was  Church  reform  the  result  of  a  great 
religious  movement  among  the  masses,  as  in  Germany,  but 
it  was  the  lever  of  a  political  revolution,  which  brought  a 
change  in  the  religious  sentiments  of  the  people  in  its  train  ; 
but  in  both  countries  the  crisis  gave  an  impetus  to  national 
power  and  historical  significance,  which  was  far  from  being 
the  case  in  Germany. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ENGLAND.* 

England  before  the  Tudors — Henry  VIII.,  1509-1547. — His  Character 
and  Attitude  at  first  towards  the  Church. — His  Opposition  to  the 
Reformation  which  was  demanded  by  the  Mental  Development 
of  the  Nation. — The  Complications  with  Rome. — The  Marriage 
Question,  1526-29. — Wolsey's  Fall. — Breach  with  Rome. — The 
Royal  Supremacy,  1534. — The  Religious  War  against  Catholics 
and  Protestants. — The  Secularisation,  of  Monasteries. — The  six 
Articles  of  1593. 

ENGLAND  BEFORE  THE  TUDORS. 

IT  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  demolition  of  the  mediaeval 
Church  in  England,  and  not  the  Reformation,  which 
falls  within  our  period,  and  this  prelude  to  the  ecclesiastical 
revolution  was  performed  by  a  monarch  who  personally 
regarded  the  Reformers  and  the  Reformation  with  pas- 
sionate hatred.  It  was  an  exceptional  case,  and  by  no 
means  a  desirable  one.  The  traditional  Church  might  be 
pulled  down,  and  the  ground  covered  with  the  chaotic  ruins 
of  the  old  order  of  things ;  but  if  it  was  not  followed  by 
the  positive  acquisition  of  a  new  ecclesiastical  and  religious 
life,  the  event  was  a  very  doubtful  benefit  to  the  generation 
then  living.  But  the  Government  of  Henry  VIII.  cannot 

*  Hume,  History  of  England.  Lingard,  History  of  England.  Hal- 
larn,  Constitutional  History  of  England.  Burnet,  History  of  the  Re- 
formation. Collier,  Ecclesiastical  History.  Strype,  Ecclesiastical 
Memorials.  G.  Weber,  Geschichte  der  Kathol.  Kirche  von  Gross- 
britannien,  1845.  Ranke,  Englische  Geschichte,  1859.  Froude,  His- 
tory of  England.  Brewer,  Letters  and  Papers,  Foreign  and  Domestic, 
of  the  Reign  of  Henry  VIII.  Bergenroth,  Calendar  of  Letters,  Des- 
patches, and  State-Papers  relating  to  the  Negociations  between 
England  and  Spain,  preserved  in  the  Archives  of  Simancas  and  else- 
where. Maurenbrecher,  England  im  Reformations  Zeitalter.  Dussel- 
dorf.  1866. 


164  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

boast  of  having  done  more  than  this.  The  real  Reforma- 
tion in  England  began  under  Edward  VI.,  passed  through 
a  fiery  trial  under  Mary,  and  proved  victorious  under 
Elizabeth. 

The  attitude  of  Henry  VIII.  undoubtedly  had  a  signifi- 
cance in  the  great  Church  question  which  extended  far 
beyond  his  personal  aims  and  objects.  He  did  nothing  to 
benefit  either  life  or  doctrine  ;  or  rather,  he  did  all  that  he 
could  by  bad  example  and  confusing  men's  consciences  to 
make  them  worse.  Still,  from  a  variety  of  motives,  he  did 
bring  about  a  great  breach  between  England  and  the 
mediaeval  Church  system,  and  this  remained  as  a  great 
historical  fact,  however  different  the  result  may  have  been 
from  what  he  intended.  He  wanted  to  establish  a  royal 
Papacy  as  absolute  and  persecuting  as  the  purely  ecclesi- 
astical one  which  he  was  rejecting;  but  he  was  in  reality 
making  loopholes  for  liberty. 

The  Reformation  in  its  widest  sense  formed  an  epoch  in 
the  development  of  the  English  constitution  ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  peculiar  development  of  the  English  consti- 
tution since  the  thirteenth  century  imposed  essential  condi- 
tions on  the  Reformation. 

There  were  no  absolute  monarchies,  in  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  century  sense,  anywhere  in  the  West,  but 
the  relation  between  the  privileges  of  the  States  and  the 
royal  authority  varied  exceedingly.  They  were  compressed 
within  narrow  limits  in  France  by  Francis  I. ;  in  Germany, 
grown  up  together  as  they  had  done  with  the  ambitious 
principalities,  they  threatened  to  overwhelm  the  political 
and  national  unity  of  the  Empire  ;  in  Spain,  Charles  V.  had. 
to  carry  on  a  great  contest  with  the  liberties  of  the  ancient 
kingdom  ;  in  England  the  form  of  government  was  entirely 
monarchical,  yet  modified  by  certain  acknowledged  princi- 
ples of  liberty  such  as  nowhere  else  existed. 

The  foundation  of  these  principles  was  the  Magna  Charta 
of  1215.  It  is  true  that  it  was  a  charter  of  liberty  to  the 
great  nobles,  temporal  and  spiritual,  to  defend  them  from  a 
contemptible  king,  and  it  therefore  formed  the  basis  of  the 
privileges  of  the  hierarchy  and  aristocracy ;  but  it  contains 
some  very  important  regulations,  which  we  look  for  in  vain 
in  any  other  mediaeval  charters.  He  who  examines  our 
German  royal  laws  of  the  thirteenth  century  will  find  that 
the  great  lords  not  only  claimed  all  the  privileges  of  princely 


ENGLAND   BEFORE  THE  TUDORS.  165 

rank,  but  made  a  tool  of  the  king  to  limit  the  liberties 
of  the  other  classes  ;  and  it  was  just  the  same  with  the 
privileged  class  in  ancient  France. 

It  is  this  which  constitutes  the  great  difference  between 
Magna  Charta  and  all  the  other  charters  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  It  grants  the  suffrage  to  ecclesiastics,  and  mitiga- 
tions of  feudal  bonds  to  the  barons  ;  but  it  concedes  the 
same  mitigations  to  vassals  of  a  lower  grade,  and  makes 
regulations  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  nation  :  uniformity 
of  coinage,  weights  and  measures,  security  for  trade,  prohi- 
bition of  arbitrary  taxes  and  impositions,  a  guarantee  for 
the  liberties  of  cities,  power  over  the  disposition  of  pro- 
perty, regular  courts  of  justice,  the  regulation  that  no  man 
can  be  tried  but  by  the  law  of  the  land,  and  that  his  im- 
plements of  husbandry  may  never  be  distrained  from  a 
peasant. 

This  was  enough  at  that  time  to  afford  free  scope  to  the 
development  of  the  powers  of  the  citizen  and  peasant  class, 
especially  in  an  island  empire  which  was  particularly  well 
situated  for  trade  and  commerce,  was  not  affected  by  conti- 
nental wars,  and  was  less  exposed  to  hostile  invasion  than 
any  other  country.  Thus  in  England,  even  among  the 
citizen  and  peasant  classes,  there  was  a  national  prosperity 
which  laid  the  foundations  of  political  independence.  The 
fundamental  law  of  the  country  was  an  unimpeachable 
palladium  of  their  liberties ;  every  Englishman  knew  what 
his  rights  were.  After  1283,  representatives  of  the  citizen 
class  begin  to  appear  among  those  of  the  nobles  and  clergy 
in  Parliament,  full  two  hundred  years  earlier  than  in  Ger- 
many. After  1297,  taxes  could  only  be  levied  with  the 
consent  of  Parliament,  and  by  degrees  the  inferior  nobility 
made  common  cause  with  the  citizens  ;  for  though  just  as 
well  protected  as  the  great  feudal  lords,  they  found  the 
citizens  the  only  counterpoise  to  the  power  of  the  great 
nobles  in  Parliament.  A  more  auspicious  union  than  this 
between  the  lesser  nobles  and  the  citizen  class  could  not 
well  be  imagined. 

Then  came  the  fourteenth  century,  a  time  of  disturbances 
within,  and  wars  without.  Wars  are  not  generally  favour- 
able to  civil  liberties  ;  but  this  case  also  was  exceptional. 
Edward  III.,  the  most  brilliant  monarch  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  carried  on  great  wars  with  France,  and  finally 
chimed  the  French  crown.  They  were  partly  wars  of  con- 


1 66  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

quest,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  advancement  of 
English  national  prosperity.  But  the  King  was  continually 
obliged  to  ask  Parliament  for  subsidies ;  and  thus,  even 
under  this  monarch,  that  dependence  of  the  Crown  on  Parlia- 
ment on  all  financial  questions  was  established  on  which 
the  whole  Parliamentary  system  of  England  was  to  take 
root. 

Many  a  precious  germ  was  crushed  in  the  confusion  of 
the  civil  wars  which  followed  ;  but  the  development  of  the 
Parliamentary  system  made  progress  rather  than  the  con- 
trary. Three  great  constitutional  principles  were  already 
acknowledged  and  acted  upon  : — That  the  King  can  make 
no  law  without  consent  of  Parliament ;  that  he  cannot 
impose  any  tax  without  consent  of  Parliament ;  that  he  is 
bound  to  administer  the  Government  according  to  the  laws 
of  the  country  •  and  if  he  break  these  laws,  his  ministers 
and  agents  are  responsible  for  it.* 

Under  the  new  Tudor  dynasty,  whose  legitimacy  depended 
upon  the  will  of  the  nation, — for  the  other  claims  to  the 
Crown  of  Henry  VII.,  the  victor  of  Bosworth,  were  of  a 
very  dubious  nature, — that  vigorous  administration  began 
which  was  to  heal  the  wounds  of  civil  war,  and  tide  England 
happily  over  the  dangers  of  a  stormy  transition  period. 

HENRY  VIII.,  1509-47. — His  CHARACTER  AND  ATTITUDE 

AT    FIRST   TOWARDS   THE   CHURCH. OPPOSITION   TO 

THE    REFORMATION,    THOUGH    DEMANDED    BY    THE 
MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  NATION. 

Henry  VIII.  inherited  from  his  father  a  kingdom  more 
firmly  established  than  any  King  of  England  had  reigned 
over  for  generations,  and  he  duly  estimated  the  value  of  his 
Crown.  His  natural  aristocratic  tendencies  were  increased 
by  a  passionate  and  violent  temper,  which  could  brook  no 
contradiction.  It  is  difficult  to  portray  a  character  like 
his  correctly,  and  the  English  have  not  rendered  the  task 
less  difficult ;  for  their  party  spirit  has  overpowered  their 
historical  judgment.  Protestant  authors  have  not  forgotten 
the  service  he  rendered  to  their  cause  by  throwing  off 
the  yoke  of  the  Romish  hierarchy ;  and,  therefore,  notwith- 
standing the  many  Protestants  he  burnt,  there  is  a  little  too 

*  Macaulay. 


HENRY  Vni.  167 

much  couleur  de  rose  in  their  portraits.  The  Catholics,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  not  forgotten  the  breach  with  Rome, 
and  the  unworthy  motives  which  induced  it,  and  have 
painted  him  in  very  sombre  hues.  We  must  try  to  avoid 
both  errors. 

Besides  the  strongly  marked  love  of  power  which  he 
shared  with  all  his  house,  and  which  was  fostered  rather 
than  checked  by  a  subservient  Parliament,  he  possessed 
an  instinct  which  was  common  to  all  the  rulers  of  that  age, 
and  which  in  his  case  was  more  than  an  unconscious 
tendency  to  free  himself  from  all  fetters,  to  be  as  much 
as  possible  an  absolute  monarch  like  his  ideal  Francis  I., 
whom,  although  he  had  many  a  fray  with  him,  he  often 
absurdly  imitated. 

England  has  not  had  any  king  who  possessed  in  so  great 
a  degree  the  inclination  and  the  power  to  be  a  tyrant. 
The  Stuarts  had  inclination  enough,  but  not  the  power; 
although  they  were  constantly  declaring  that  they  would  be 
powerful  sovereigns,  it  was  all  in  vain.  Henry  VIII.  was 
just  the  man  for  it ;  he  had  an  active,  diplomatic  mind,  and 
knew  how  to  manage  men  ;  he  had  a  will  which  no  difficulty 
could  dismay,  and  great  versatility  of  talent ;  all  this,  how- 
ever, was  obscured  by  his  wild  passions  and  his  unbridled 
sensuality,  which  is  all  the  more  odious  because  a  certain 
theological  varnish  was  put  upon  it. 

Henry  VIII.  had  enjoyed  a  tolerably  learned  education, 
and  therefore  considered  himself  an  accomplished  scholar ; 
he  was  fond  of  learned  discussions  and  scholastic  sophistry  ; 
he  even  ventured  dogmatically  to  defend  his  sensual 
excesses. 

In  coming  in  contact  with  the  great  religious  reformation 
of  that  period,  a  ruler  of  a  character  like  his  was  sure  to  be 
depicted  in  an  exceptional  manner. 

The  relation  of  England  to  Rome  was  sharply  defined,  in 
some  respects  more  sharply  than  was  the  case  with  Germany. 
If  any  country  had  maintained  a  distant,  even  hostile  atti- 
tude, towards  Rome,  it  was  England.  Wicliffe  is  justly 
regarded  as  the  chief  forerunner  of  the  Reiormation,  and 
except  Huss,  who  was  his  disciple,  there  was  no  one  who 
apprehended  and  discussed  the  Church  question  so  indepen- 
dently as  he  did ;  only  that  Huss  was  burnt  for  preaching 
what  was  allowed  to  be  preached  in  England  unhindered, 
and  some  decades  earlier. 


1 68  THE  REFORMATION   IN  ENGLAND. 

Besides  this  the  humanistic  culture  which  was  everywhere 
an  ally  of  the  ecclesiastical  revolt  was  widely  spread  in 
England ;  in  few  northern  countries  was  the  study  of  the 
ancient  classics  more  diligently  pursued  than  here,  both  in 
elementary  instruction  and  learned  researches.  In  short, 
both  of  the  streams  from  which  the  Reformation  everywhere 
derived  its  greatest  strength,  the  spirit  of  religious  opposi- 
tion, dating  from  the  times  of  the  councils,  and  enlighten- 
ment from  classical  study,  flowed  here  more  abundantly 
and  purely  than  anywhere  else,  and  partly  before  Luther, 
and  partly  quite  independently  of  him,  opinions  similar  to 
his  had  been  widely  agitated. 

But  Henry  VIII.  was  entirely  opposed  to  them.  No 
European  monarch  cherished  the  conservative  Church  system 
with  more  zeal  and  passion  than  he  did. 

This  was  all  of  a  piece  with  his  semi-theological  culture. 
There  was  in  his  singular  character  a  peculiar  doctrinal- 
scholastic  element  which  was  quite  compatible  with  an  utter 
want  of  religious  feeling ;  a  bit  of  pedantry  which  now  and 
then  incited  him  to  try  to  pluck  laurels  to  which  he  had  no 
claim,  in  this,  to  other  princes,  unwonted  field. 

There  was  also  another  thing.  All  the  Tudors,  even 
Elizabeth,  had  a  secret  liking  for  Rome,  which  arose  rather 
from  an  idea  of  political  stability  connected  with  it  than 
from  any  religious  reasons.  The  chief  characteristic  of  this 
family  was  a  strong  dynastic  feeling  of  the  dignity  of 
monarchical  power ;  it  was  very  perceptible  in  both  Henry's 
daughters,  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  though  they  were  otherwise 
so  different.  Rome  is  the  type  of  unquestioned  authority  ; 
it  may  be  dangerous  to  temporal  thrones  to  shake  this  au- 
thority :  this  was  the  instinctive  idea  which  ruled  the  house. 

From  this  point  of  view  Henry  VIII.  was  decidedly  op- 
posed to  the  revolutionary  attitude  towards  Rome,  assumed 
by  the  German  and  Swiss  Reformation.  He  attacked  it 
with  systematic  and  cruel  severity ;  he  regarded  the  heretics 
as  rebels  and  traitors ;  trials  for  heresy  were  very  numerous, 
and  it  was  only  in  France  that  the  number  of  victims 
exceeded  those  in  England. 

Such  was  the  position  of  England  and  the  King;  the 
nation  and  he  were  utterly  at  variance  ;  germs  of  reform 
had  been  springing  up  abundantly  amongst  the  people 
since  the  fifteenth  century,  but  their  natural  growth  and 
development  were  thwarted  from  the  throne. 


THE  MARRIAGE   QUESTION.  169 

On  Henry's  first  attempt  to  engage  in  the  ecclesiastical 
controversy  as  something  in  which  he  was  well  versed,  he 
met  with  a  rebuff.  He  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to 
give  the  Wittenberg  Monk  a  severe  lecture  on  the  subject 
of  good  works,  and,  in  1522,  he  published  a  work  against 
Luther.  Frederic  the  Great  says  somewhere,  that  a  king 
must  always  be  a  king  and  never  try  to  be  a  priest,  but 
Henry  VIII.  was  unmindful  of  this  wise  maxim.  His  work 
betrayed  the  dilettante,  whose  nakedness  the  royal  authority 
was  meant  to  hide,  and  it  attacked  Luther  entirely  on  the 
wrong  side.  He  wrote  a  coarse  and  angry  answer,  next  to 
his  work  against  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  the  coarsest  of  his 
writings,  on  purpose  to  show  that  he  was  not  in  the  least 
awed  by  royalty  ;  sentences  like  the  following  were  among 
the  comparatively  mild  expressions  in  the  reply  of  the 
Thuringian  peasant's  son :  "  Wnen  God  wants  a  fool  he 
turns  a  king  into  a  theological  writer." 

This  incensed  Henry  personally  against  the  Reformation, 
and,  all  things  considered,  nothing  appeared  less  likely  than 
that  a  breach  with  Rome  would  take  place  under  him. 
Besides,  his  all-powerful  favourite  Cardinal  Wolsey  was  at 
his  side,  who  had  no  other  idea  than  to  attain  to  the  papal 
dignity,  and  who  already  had  one  foot  in  the  Curia. 

THE  COMPLICATIONS  WITH  ROME. — THE  MARRIAGE  QUES- 
TION, 1526-29. 

A  peculiar  question  respecting  marriage  interposed  about 
1526,  which  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  Reforma- 
tion, but  which  from  a  purely  personal  and  not  very  nice 
business  became  a  matter  of  world-wide  importance. 

King  Henry  VIII.  had  been  married  in  June,  1509,10 
the  widow  of  his  elder  brother  Arthur,  who  had  died  early ; 
he  would  have  succeeded  to  the  throne,  and  his  sagacious 
father  had  secured  for  him  the  richest  bride  that  could  be 
found  far  and  wide.  This  was  Katharine  of  Aragon,  the 
daughter  of  that  powerful  pair,  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  and 
Isabella  of  Castile,  who  by  the  junction  of  their  inheritances 
founded  the  Spanish  empire.  The  daughter  of  such  parents 
was  a  most  desirable  match,  for  she  brought  as  a  dowry  the 
alliance  of  the  wealthy  and  powerful  Spanish  house.  But 
the  youthful  prince  died  suddenly,  and  after  so  short  an 
union  that  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  marriage  had  been 


I  70  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

consummated.  The  natural  course  would  have  been  to 
look  upon  the  alliance  between  the  two  houses  as  dissolved 
by  fate.  But  Henry  VII.  entered  into  negotiations  to  gain 
the  widow  for  his  second  son,  now  heir  to  the  throne. 
There  were  difficulties  in  the  way.  First  there  was  the 
question  whether  marriage  with  a  brother's  widow  was  per- 
missible. Then  Henry  was  younger  and  of  a  very  different 
character  from  Katharine,  whose  quiet,  sedate  Spanish 
manners  seemed  little  suited  to  his  lawless,  passionate  tem- 
perament. But  the  shrewd  Tudor  who  had  succeeded  in  so 
many  things  succeeded  in  this  also ;  he  united  the  young 
pair,  but  though  the  marriage  contract  was  ready  on  the 
23rd  of  June,  1503,  it  was  not  until  after  six  years  of  sus- 
pense and  discord  that  it  was  formally  and  legally  carried 
out  by  the  voluntary  advances  of  the  prince  himself,  who 
had  just  ascended  the  throne. 

In  the  endeavour  to  paint  the  King  in  as  bright  colours  as 
possible,  the  English  do  not  forget  to  mention,  that  from 
the  first  Henry  recorded  in  a  sort  of  protest  his  scruples 
against  a  marriage  forbidden  by  the  decrees  of  the  Church. 
It  is  a  fact  that  he  did  so.  It  was  a  sort  of  theological 
scrupulosity  and  casuistry  which  led  him  to  provide  against 
all  contingencies.  Rome  then  came  to  his  aid,  and  Pope 
Julius  II.  issued  a  bull  by  which  all  theological  scruples 
were  set  aside  and  the  marriage  pronounced  thoroughly 
legal. 

The  course  of  the  union  did  not  appear  to  justify  any  of 
the  fears  that  had  been  entertained  about  it.  Though  the 
pair  were  apparently  so  ill  suited,  their  opposite  characters 
seemed  to  do  very  well  together.  The  fruit  of  the  marriage- 
was  a  daughter,  Mary,  who  afterwards  ascended  the  throne  ; 
their  sons  did  not  live,  and  the  English  assure  us  that  this 
was  the  first  cause  of  estrangement.  Nothing  of  this,  how- 
ever, came  to  light.  Katharine,  who  was  of  a  contemplative 
and  retiring  nature,  was  pliant  and  indulgent  enough,  and 
allowed  her  frivolous  pleasure-loving  consort  to  do  just  as 
he  pleased. 

The  union  had  continued  in  peace  for  half  a  lifetime, 
when  the  old  scruples,  which  were  supposed  to  have  been 
buried  long  ago,  were  revived.  The  Mosaic  law  against 
such  marriages  came  with  fresh  force  over  the  mind  of  the 
royal  theologian  and  destroyed  his  peace.  N.B. — There 
was  at  the  court  a  young  and  blooming  maid  of  honour, 


THE  MARRIAGE  QUESTION.  171 

with  attractive  French  grace,  a  charming  contrast  to  Katha- 
rine's dull  monotony ;  she  had  charmed  the  King,  and  this 
it  was  which  decidedly  favoured,  if  it  did  not  entirely  occa- 
sion, the  revival  of  the  forgotten  scruples.  The  King  was 
tired  of  his  wife,  who  was  getting  old,  and  hankered  for 
Anne  Boleyn.  It  was  only  as  his  wife  and  not  otherwise, 
that  she  promised  to  return  his  affection  ;  so  the  King  was 
obliged  to  think  of  the  dissolution  of  the  old  marriage  and 
the  contraction  of  a  new  one  which  would  be  more  to  his 
taste,  and  from  which  he  might  hope  for  an  heir  to  the 
throne.  Sensuality  turned  the  scale.  Such  motives  when 
naked  and  undisguised  are  not  pleasing,  but  when  covered 
with  a  theological  mantle  they  are  odious.  All  of  a  sudden 
the  marriage  which  had  lasted  nearly  twenty  years,  had,  as 
his  court  theologians  assured  him,  become  invalid,  and  he 
was  racked  with  sharp  pangs  of  conscience ;  but  his  con- 
science did  not  prevent  him  from  zealously  courting  the 
beautiful  girl,  to  whom,  as  he  could  not  gain  her  for  his  mis- 
tress, he  had  promised  marriage. 

Cardinal  Wolsey,  although  still  coveting  the  triple  crown, 
was  at  length  prepared,  with  a  heavy  heart,  to  undertake  the 
negotiation  which  might  cost  him  not  only  the  papal  tiara, 
but  the  results  of  the  labours  of  his  life.  A  bull  was 
applied  for  from  Rome,  which  should  confirm  the  King's 
scruples  and  relieve  his  conscience,  by  dissolving  the 
marriage  which  was  contrary  to  the  decrees  of  the  Church. 
It  was  a  delicate  business.  Had  it  not  been  that  Rome 
had  by  a  previous  bull  herself  removed  all  obstacles  out  of 
the  way,  considering  the  spirit  then  reigning  at  the  Curia, 
the  matter  would  have  been  easy-enough.  But  it  was  felt 
that  it  would  be  very  undignified  for  Clement  VII.  to  pro- 
nounce a  decree  precisely  contradicting  that  pronounced  by 
Pope  Julius  II.  on  the  same  question. 

But  this  was  in  1526-7,  just  when  the  victory  of  Pav:.a 
and  the  peace  of  Madrid  had  led  the  Emperor  Chailes  V. 
to  the  summit  of  his  fame,  and  when  Rome  was  courting 
Francis  I.,  in  order  to  obtain  his  aid  to  crush  the  growing 
power ;  and  the  papal  policy  was  guided  from  a  purely 
worldly  point  of  view,  not  by  a  priest  but  a  Medici.  Just  at 
this  juncture,  the  embassy  from  England  arrived,  and  the 
position  of  affairs  could  scarcely  have  been  more  favourable 
for  its  success.  There  was  no  objection  to  offering  a  cruel 
insult  to  the  Emperor's  aunt,  Queen  Katharine ;  they  were 


172  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

endeavouring  to  compass  his  fall,  so  why  should  they 
scruple  to  offend  him  ?  The  Pope  was  not  indisposed  to 
please  the  King ;  in  his  wrath  at  Charles  V.'s  successes,  in 
the  hope  of  gaining  a  new  and  powerful  ally  against  him, 
Clement  VII.  resolved  upon  the  incredible  folly  of  sending 
an  embassy  to  investigate  the  subject  and  to  pronounce  a 
divorce  according  to  the  result.  This  was  the  Legate's  com- 
mission in  his  first  instructions. 

So  Cardinal  Campeggio  came  to  England.  He  at  first 
tried  to  induce  the  Queen  to  renounce  her  rights,  and  as 
that  failed,  a  painful  and  repulsive  process  was  instituted 
which  shocked  all  contemporaries,  and  sometimes  moved 
for  a  moment  even  the  hard-hearted  judges  of  the  unfortu- 
nate Queen.  It  was  never  forgotten  how  the.  innocent 
princess  was  brought  before  the  court  and  examined,  how 
simply  and  plainly  but  firmly  she  defended  her  good  cause 
in  her  own  way,  how  she  called  to  remembrance  her  conjugal 
fidelity  and  the  pledge  of  her  love,  and  how  pathetically  she 
lamented  that  it  had  not  been  possible  to  her  as  a  foreigner 
to  be  all  to  the  country  as  Queen  that  she  would  fain  have 
been. 

But  this  did  not  turn  the  judges  from  their  course;  they 
continued  the  barbarous  trial,  but  the  business  did  not 
proceed  very  fast.  The  Papal  Legate  was  by  no  means  in 
so  great  a  hurry  as  the  King,  who  was  writing  one  impa- 
tient letter  after  another  to  his  Anne.  It  was  still  very 
uncertain  what  turn  things  might  take ;  the  wind  blew  now 
from  one  quarter,  now  from  another.  The  Legate  was  in 
no  hurry, — he  might  have  had  secret  instructions  to  that 
effect, — he  wanted  to  see  how  matters  were  likely  to  stand 
between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  and  just  then  a  change 
was  taking  place  in  the  relations  between  them.  At  the 
end  of  1528,  Clement  VII.  was  not  in  a  position  to  keep 
the  field  against  the  Emperor ;  his  allies  had  again  been  un- 
successful, Charles's  troops  had  advanced  to  Rome,  nearly 
all  the  Peninsula  was  in  their  hands ;  everything  concurred 
to  induce  the  Pope  to  conclude  peace  with  the  Emperor, 
and  for  him  the  pending  divorce  was  a  great  inducement  to 
a  reconciliation,  for  it  might  result  not  only  in  an  irremedi- 
able breach  with  Rome,  but  in  an  irreparable  insult  to  his 
dynasty. 

In  July,  1529,  Campeggio  suddenly  received  a  bull  re- 
calling him  to  Rome ;  the  question  was  not  ripe  for  a 


THE   BREACH   WITH  ROME.  173 

decree  in  England,  and  was  to  be  investigated  at  Rome. 
This  looked  like  a  response  to  the  appeal  which  Henry 
VIII.  had  himself  made  to  Rome.  But  viewed  in  the 
light  of  the  change  in  the  aspect  of  affairs  occasioned  by 
the  reconciliation  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope,  the  mean- 
ing of  it  was  obvious,  and  was  from  the  first  perfectly 
understood  by  Henry  VIII.  We  have  a  number  of  inter- 
esting documents  relating  to  this  business  ;  the  parties  are 
well  matched ;  neither  is  cunning  enough  to  deceive  the 
other,  and  they  try  to  maintain  a  good  understanding  by 
hypocritical  fair  speeches ;  but  each  sees  through  the  other 
entirely ;  Henry  especially  saw  at  once  that  the  Pope  would 
elude  him  by  a  side  door  and  never  fulfil  his  promise. 
When  the  Legate's  departure  took  place  and  Henry  was 
informed  of  his  recall,  he  regarded  it  as  the  first  retreating 
step  of  the  Curia;  though  he  was  not  aware  that  just  then 
the  peace  between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  was  signed, 
and  that  it  was  an  essential  article  of  the  agreement  that  the 
unhappy  Katharine  should  not  be  disgraced. 

Henry  now  determined  to  take  the  matter  into  his  own 
hands.  The  first  visible  effect  of  this  resolve  was  the  fall  of 
Wolsey.  Somebody  must  suffer  for  it ;  he  could  not  attack 
the  Pope  or  the  Emperor,  and  so  Wolsey  had  to  pay  the 
penalty  for  his  influence  not  having  been  sufficient  to  obtain 
the  divorce  from  the  Pope.  The  Cardinal  was  deprived  of 
all  his  dignities  and  all  his  splendour,  and  reduced  to  great 
distress  ;  he  was  not  the  man  to  bear  it  with  stoical  forti- 
tude ;  his  fall  broke  his  heart. 

This  was  a  significant  event ;  for  Wolsey  was  still  a 
Cardinal  of  the  Romish  Church,  and  had  never,  even  in  the 
greatest  extremities,  entirely  neglected  her  interests.  This 
hindrance  was  now  removed,  and  the  consequences  were 
soon  to  be  developed  to  their  fullest  extent. 

THE  BREACH  WITH  ROME. — THE  ROYAL  SUPREMACY,  1534. 
— THE  WAR  AGAINST  CATHOLICS  AND  PROTESTANTS. 
— THE  SECULARISATION  OF  MONASTERIES. — THE  Six 
ARTICLES  OF  1539. 

For  a  time  the  King  reigned  without  a  favourite,  without 
an  all-powerful  minister.  Then  he  took  Thomas  Cromwell,  a 
skilful  diplomatist,  and  in  his  tendencies  and  bearing  the 
very  antipodes  of  Wolsey;  n<~>'  a  man  irom  whose  faithful- 


174  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

ness  to  conviction  or  independence  any  good  influence  over 
the  King  could  be  hoped  for,  but  whose  ambition  and 
arrogance  were  more  likely  to  have  an  influence  for  evil ;  he 
was  decidedly  opposed  to  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  an  enemy  to  the  interference  of  Rome 
in  English  affairs,  and  therefore  an  opponent  of  the  princi- 
ples that  had  been  represented  by  Wolsey. 

It  was  probably  under  the  incitement  of  Cromwell  that 
Parliament  now  began  to  stir.  Up  to  this  time  the  King 
had  endeavoured  to  keep  down  the  national  opposition  to 
Rome  in  Parliament  by  more  or  less  intimidation,  he  now 
left  it  to  take  its  own  course.  The  old  complaints,  increased 
by  Wolsey's  extortions,  were  brought  forward  against  the 
financial  and  judicial  extortions  of  the  clergy;  all  the  pre- 
vious subjects  of  dispute  with  Rome  were  again  agitated 
and,  in  the  session  of  1529,  the  wish  was  expressed  that  the 
King  should  be  considered  "  the  sole  head  and  sovereign, 
arbiter  and  protector  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  interests 
of  the  nation."  The  King  and  his  ministers  were  manifestly 
gratified  at  this  spirit  of  opposition,  for  it  showed  the  Curia 
that  they  did  not  stand  alone,  but  were  supported  in  opposing 
it  by  the  clear  and  publicly  expressed  opinion  of  the  nation. 

But  just  then  another  influence  came  into  play,  the 
significance  of  which  the  King  did  not  rightly  estimate, 
though  it  was  working  against  him  before  his  eyes,  and  now 
in  1530-31,  it  began  openly  to  manifest  itself. 

Thomas  Cranmer,  a  highly  educated  ecclesiastic,  who  had 
quietly  pursued  his  studies  under  Luther's  influence,  a  pru- 
dent, pliant  man,  not  a  sharply  defined  character,  but  a 
thorough  Lutheran  at  heart,  had  as  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury become,  in  1532,  primate  of  the  English  Church; 
this  promotion  was  the  first  defection  of  the  King  from  the 
old  ecclesiastical  policy,  but  he  certainly  did  not  then  know 
to  what  an  extent  Cranmer  was  a  Lutheran. 

Both  parties  were  still  reluctant  to  push  the  matter  to 
extremes.  Rome  was  ready  to  carry  on  the  negotiation, 
and  the  King  tried  to  justify  himself  by  theological  authori- 
ties ;  large  sums  were  expended  to  procure  documents  from 
all  the  universities  of  Europe.  But  it  was  at  the  time  when 
Rome  was  on  good  terms  with  the  Emperor,  and  therefore 
no  compliance  was  to  be  expected,  and  so  the  breach  was 
visibly  widening,  though  neither  party  was  willing  to  utter 
the  decisive  word. 


THE  ROYAL   SUPREMACY.  175 

But  now  many  things  combined  to  hasten  the  crisis  :  the 
appointment  of  Cranmer,  the  encouragement  of  Parliament, 
the  declaration  that  the  King  was  head  of  the  Church  at 
the  instigation  of  the  clergy,  the  abolition  of  Peter's  Pence 
and  of  Annats,  and  finally  the  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn 
in  January,  1533,  first  celebrated  in  private,  and  then 
solemnly  proclaimed,  and  the  divorce  from  Katharine  by 
the  sentence  of  the  English  courts;  these  were  the  chief 
elements  of  the  open  breach,  and  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication could  no  longer  be  withheld. 

Henry  VIII.  was  not  the  man  to  burn  the  bull  as  Luther 
had  done  ;  he  was  by  no  means  indifferent  to  the  penalties 
inflicted  by  the  ancient  Church,  but  he  had  sufficient  aristo- 
cratic feeling  to  think  himself  deeply  aggrieved,  and  treated 
with  base  ingratitude.  Had  he  not  done  a  great  deal  for 
the  Pope,  instituted  trials  for  heresy  and  written  against 
Luther  ?  and  now  he  was  excommunicated.  His  first  relief 
from  the  terrors  of  the  bull  was  the  feeling  of  having  re- 
ceived an  unmerited  insult.  He  then  proceeded  to  make  a 
decided  counter-stroke. 

Parliament  was  called,  and  under  the  impression  of  the 
ban  the  following  resolutions  were  carried  unanimously  : — 
That  the  papal  supremacy  be  abolished  and  the  royal  supre- 
macy substituted.  That  the  abolition  of  Peter's  Pence 
and  Annats  be  confirmed  ;  that  the  clergy  hold  only 
the  position  of  a  convocation  under  the  King,  and  no 
longer  of  a  Church  under  the  authority  of  Rome.  That  all 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  royal  supremacy.  Therein 
was  to  be  affirmed  the  invalidity  of  the  first,  and  the  legiti- 
macy of  the  second  marriage  of  the  King  ;  Mary's  disinhe- 
ritance and  Elizabeth's  right  of  inheritance  ;  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  King  as  head  of  the  Church  and  "  The 
clergy  shall  preach  Christ  and  His  gospel  with  a  pure  heart 
and  in  accordance  with  the  words  of  Holy  Scripture  and  the 
traditions  of  othodox  and  Catholic  fathers  ;  they  shall  not 
misrepresent  anything,  and  in  their  prayers  the  King  shall 
be  mentioned  first  as  head  of  the  English  Church,"  &c. 

There  was  no  question  here  of  a  change  of  faith,  of  an 
adoption  of  the  newer  and  purer  teaching.  The  hierarchy 
was  silenced  and  made  subservient  to  the  King,  but  all 
else  remained  as  betore.  The  Romish  dogmas  were  unal- 
tered. Woe  to  him  who  attacked  the  mass,  transubstan- 
the  worship  of  saints,  the  seven  sacraments,  or 


170  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

the  doctrine  of  good  works ;  he  was  sure  to  be  seized  and 
burned  as  a  heretic.  But  woe  to  him  also  who  refused  to 
take  the  oath  of  supremacy,  who  would  not  acknowledge 
the  new  royal  papacy ;  he  was  seized  and  hanged  as  a  traitor. 
It  was  not  a  Reformation,  not  even  a  new  ecclesiastical 
administration,  it  was  only  a  transfer  of  the  supreme 
authority  from  the  Pope  to  the  King  ;  the  creed  as  well  as 
the  forms  of  the  ancient  Church  remained  the  same  as 
before ;  it  was  only  that  an  essential  difference  had  taken 
place  in  the  head  of  the  constitution  which  would  make 
a  continuance  of  friendship  with  Rome  difficult,  if  not  im- 
possible. 

This  state  of  things  was  tolerable  only  to  pliant,  submis- 
sive, and  timid  people  ;  it  was  death  to  men  of  character 
who  openly  confessed  their  convictions.  Whoever,  like 
Sir  Thomas  More,  refused  to  take  the  oath,  though  he  had 
formerly  abetted  the  King  in  the  execution  of  heretics,  or 
Bishop  John  Fisher,  was  pursued  and  brought  to  the 
scaffold,  and  the  same  cruel  measures  were  taken  against 
Protestant  innovators.  Besides  the  gallows  for  those  whom 
the  King  called  traitors,  there  were  the  scaffold  and  the 
stake,  the  former  for  distinguished,  the  latter  for  common 
heretics. 

If  this  state  of  things  was  to  last,  no  more  ruthless  sport 
with  religious  matters,  no  more  fearful  distraction  of  men's 
consciences,  could  well  be  imagined.  The  old  state  of 
things  was  put  an  end  to,  and  nothing  substituted  for  it, 
but  the  unbounded  supremacy  of  the  King  and  his  personal 
passions.  From  the  record  of  the  thirteen  fearful  years 
which  followed,  leaving  alone  the  King's  marriages,  I  men- 
tion two  points  which  were  of  great  significance  in  the 
subsequent  constitution  of  the  English  State  and  Church  ; 
the  secularisation  of  Church  property,  and  the  terrorism  in 
matters  of  religious  faith. 

As  was  the  case  everywhere  where  the  ecclesiastical 
controversy  was  taken  up  by  the  Crown,  the  immense 
riches  of  the  Church  and  the  monasteries  were  confiscated 
in  order  to  enrich  the  Crown.  We  have  seen  in  the  case  ot 
Gustavus  Vasa,  what  a  powerful  prince  with  the  instincts  ot 
a  ruler  could  accomplish  with  this  booty.  Had  Henry  VIII. 
possessed  the  ambition,  energy,  circumspection,  and  sagacity 
of  Gustavus,  this  colossal  accession  of  wealth  to  the  throne 
might  have  been  fatal  to  English  liberties.  Had  Henry 


CONFISCATION  OF  CHURCH  PROPERTY.        177 

been  the  thrifty,  calculating  statesman  who  would  have  hus- 
banded this  immense  treasure,  and  invested  it  to  advantage, 
he  would  have  left  to  the  heirs  of  his  Crown  a  capital  which 
would  have  enabled  the  Stuarts  to  free  the  royal  sovereignty 
from  all  embarrassment,  and  to  have  rendered  it  entirely 
independent.  But  instead  of  this,  the  Church  property, 
confiscated  with  so  much  severity,  was  sold  without  any 
plan,  at  ridiculous  prices,  and  the  proceeds  squandered  in 
pomp  and  luxury ;  for  a  time  the  Court  revelled  in  plenty, 
but  the  old  pecuniary  difficulties  returned  in  an  incredibly 
short  time. 

The  squandered  riches  had  not,  however,  melted  away 
altogether.  The  landed  nobility  obtained  possession  of  the 
estates  ;  the  great  landowning  class,  which  has  to  this  hour 
ruled  and  sustained  the  edifice  of  the  English  state,  dates  its 
prosperity  from  this  great  sale  of  Church  property  instituted 
by  the  frivolous  King,  just  at  the  time  when,  as  he  contem- 
plated his  suddenly  acquired  wealth,  he  thought  himself  the 
greatest  monarch  in  Christendom. 

Coincident  with  this  domestic  revolution  was  a  reign  of 
terror  in  religious  matters,  during  which  horrible  cruelties 
were  perpetrated,  and  which  fearfully  demoralised  the 
nation. 

England  became  the  scene  of  a  fierce  religious  war,  which 
year  alter  year  demanded  innumerable  sacrifices,  and  the 
end  of  which  no  one  could  foresee,  for  no  one  could  answer 
the  question — What  then  is  the  right  creed  of  this  country, 
and  what  is  to  arise  out  of  this  sea  of  ruins  ?  Parliament 
itself  played  a  contemptible  part — it  was  the  sport  of  the 
royal  humour.  One  day  it  drew  up  articles  of  faith,  and  the 
next  sat  as  an  inquisition  upon  Catholics  and  Protestants 
alike ;  one  day  it  voted  the  ecclesiastical  estates  as  the  King's 
private  property,  and  added  the  next  that  every  one  was  to 
believe  what  the  King  and  his  commissioners  might  here- 
after dictate  about  religion  and  the  ordinances  of  the 
Church.  One  party  only  profited  by  this  hopeless  confu- 
sion, the  Roman  Catholics  in  disguise  in  the  King's  Council, 
Gardiner  and  Pole,  who,  with  their  cunningly  devised 
tactics,  contrived  to  preserve  as  much  as  possible  of  the  old 
leaven.  If  Cromwell  and  Cranmer  persecuted  the  Roman 
Catholics,  Bishop  Gardiner  and  Cardinal  Pole  kept  watch 
over  the  Piotestants,  and,  with  the  entirely  arbitrary  and 
very  narrow  line  drawn  between  the  forbidden  and  per- 

N 


178  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

mitted  creed,  it  was  not  difficult  for  either  party  to  justify 
every  act  of  violence. 

The  King  wavered  perpetually  between  contradictory 
moods,  and  no  one  about  him  ventured  to  hold  an  inde- 
pendent opinion.  He  played  as  frivolous  a  game  with  the 
Church  policy  as  he  had  done  with  the  marriage  question. 
Enraged  at  the  angry  documents  which  issued  from  the 
papal  chair,  he  attacked  the  Catholics  and  permitted  the 
circulation  of  the  Bible.  This  was  in  1538;  in  the  following 
year  Thomas  Cromwell  failed  in  a  marriage  project,  and  the 
Papists  obtained  his  ear  again.  Parliament  was  ordered  to 
settle  six  articles  of  faith,  which  could  not  but  lead,  and  did 
lead,  to  fresh  persecutions. 

1.  The   real  presence  of  Christ  in   the   Eucharist,  and 
Transubstantiation. 

2.  The  sufficiency  of  communion  in  one  kind  only. 

3.  The  unlawfulness  of  the  marriage  of  priests. 

4.  The  obligation  of  vows  of  chastity. 

5.  The  propriety  of  retaining  private  masses. 

6.  The  expediency  and  necessity  of  auricular  confession. 
Severe  penalties  were   attached  to   every    infraction  of 

these  laws.  All  marriages  of  priests,  monks,  and  nuns  were 
declared  invalid,  and  were  punishable  with  death ;  the  same 
fate  was  reserved  for  those  who  neglected  confession  or  the 
supper,  or  had  hitherto  withdrawn  from  them.  There  was 
not  a  single  moral  idea  in  these  wretched  transactions. 
Henry  VIII.  left  behind  him  a  chaos  from  which  the  nation 
had  to  extricate  itself  by  severe  struggles. 


PART  III. 

THE  GERMAN  REFORMATION  FROM  THE  PEACE 

OF  NUREMBERG  TO  THE  PEACE  OF 

AUGSBURG,  1532—55. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Favourable  Circumstances  for  the  Reformation  from  1532-42. — The 
Restoration  in  Wiirtemberg,  1534. — Spread  of  the  New  Doctrines 
in  spite  of  the  Excesses  at  Miin^ter  and  the  Revolution  at  Lubeck, 
1533-35. — The  Emperor's  Attempts  at  Conciliation,  1537-41. — 
His  View  of  the  Question.  —  Instructions  and  Proceedings  of 
Vice-Chancellor  Held. — The  League  of  Nuremberg,  June,  1538. 
— The  Discussion  of  Religion,  the  Interim  of  Ratisbon,  and  the 
Decree  of  the  Diet,  July  agth,  1541. — Decided  Progress  of  Pro- 
testantism, 1538-42. — Adoption  of  it  by  Brandenburg  and  the 
Duchy  of  Saxony,  1539. — Interference  of  the  League  of  Schmal- 
kald  and  the  Controversy  at  Cologne. 

THE  SITUATION  OF  AFFAIRS  FROM  1532-42,  AND  THEIR 
FAVOURABLE  ASPECT  FOR  THE  REFORMATION. 

"\TOTHING  was  decided  by  the  Peace  of  Nuremburg, 
±  *  but  that  both  parties  should  keep  the  peace  until  the 
final  settlement  of  the  question.  The  adherents  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession  were  permitted  to  hold  their  doctrines, 
but  those  doctrines  only,  and  the  Emperor  promised  to  stop 
proceedings  against  the  apostates.  The  Protestants,  taking 
into  consideration  the  favourable  aspect  of  things,  took  it 
for  a  permanent  peace,  and  did  not  imagine  that  any  serious 
attempt  would  be  made  to  coerce  them  back  into  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church;  but  the  Emperor  regarded  it 
merely  as  a  truce.  He  had  come  in  1 530  with  the  fixed 
intention  of  creating  a  reaction,  but  to  his  great  disappoint- 
ment he  found  the  spirit  of  opposition  stronger  and  more 
universal  than  ever,  and  he  was  only  withheld  from  active 


l8o  THE    REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

measures  because  in  such  a  contest  he  could  not  entirely 
rely  upon  his  allies,  France,  Rome,  and  the  Catholic  princes 
of  Germany,  and  because  he  could  not  dispense  with  the 
help  of  the  Protestants  against  the  Osman  power.  But  his 
programme  remained  the  same  as  before ;  the  Protestants 
must  in  one  way  or  another  be  made  to  submit  to  the 
Church ;  and  this  accomplished,  Rome  was  to  summon  a 
council,  which  should  decide  what  reforms  were  needful. 

It  was  thus  that  matters  stood  in  1532.  At  the  last 
critical  moment  the  Protestants  had  formed  a  political 
league  at  Schmalkald  ;  this  league  was  the  only  federal 
power  in  the  empire,  and  it  appeared  hazardous  to  the 
Emperor  to  enter  upon  a  conflict  with  it,  as  he  could  not 
rely  upon  the  princes  who  were  friendly  to  him.  Great 
events  then  again  intervened,  which  prevented  him  from 
interfering  in  German  affairs  for  another  decade.  Once 
more,  therefore,  Protestantism  was  protected  from  danger 
by  the  entanglement  of  the  Emperor  in  European  politics. 

During  this  period  the  Emperor  was  carrying  on  foreign 
wars  with  various  results.  It  was  not  long  before  he  was  at 
war  with  France  ;  this  was  occasioned  by  the  same  question 
as  before,  and  was  not  followed  by  more  decisive  results 
The  Emperor  formed  great  projects ;  he  thought  of  con- 
quering the  states  of  Barbary,  and  of  thereby  conferring  an 
inestimable  benefit  on  Christendom.  His  schemes  were  in 
part  successful,  but  they  withdrew  him  entirely  from  Ger- 
many. In  the  empire  itself,  the  storm  that  had  threatened 
Vienna  in  1529,  had  only  been  averted  for  a  time.  The 
Turks  never  appeared  with  so  great  a  force  as  the  first  time, 
but  there  was  perpetual  danger  from  this  quarter  ;  Hungary, 
was  overrun  again,  the  German  territories  threatened ;  in 
short,  a  multitude  of  pressing  difficulties  entirely  occupied 
his  attention  and  energies  in  European  politics,  and  the 
Protestants  were  allowed  full  play. 

Even  if  the  Emperor  had  been  disposed,  he  could  not  pro- 
ceed against  them,  while  he  was  now  in  Spain,  now  in  Italy, 
where  the  new  Pope  was  adhering  to  the  worldly  policy  of  his 
predecessor  against  him,  now  involved  in  conflicts  with  the 
French,  the  Turks,  or  the  people  of  Barbary ;  moreover, 
excepting  in  religious  matters,  the  Protestant  princes  were 
more  devoted  to  him  than  the  Catholic.  The  chivalrous 
Philip  of  Hesse  especially  entered  into  the  Imperial  schemes 
as  great  national  enterprises,  and  offered  his  services  as 


THE  RESTORATION  IN  WURTEMBERG.         l8l 

commander  of  the  Austrian  troops  against  the  Turks  in 
Hungary.  The  Imperial  Court  therefore  spared  him  for 
the  present,  while  its  relation  to  the  Catholic  princes  was 
sometimes  cool  and  sometimes  inimical. 

By  a  favourable  combination  of  circumstances,  therefore, 
the  Protestants  were  able  not  only  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  protection  of  the  Peace,  but  to  go  beyond  the  strict 
limits  of  its  provisions.  Strictly  speaking,  it  only  granted 
toleration  to  the  subscribers  of  the  Confession ;  no  further 
spread  of  the  doctrines  was  to  be  permitted.  But  who  was  to 
prevent  it,  if  individuals  here  and  there,  or  even  whole 
districts,  were  converted  ?  In  case  of  need,  the  League  of 
Schmalkald  could  have  rendered  assistance  had  there  been 
any  opposition,  but  the  Emperor  was  powerless  to  offer 
any. 

THE  RESTORATION  IN  WURTEMBERG,  1534. 

Duke  Ulrich  of  Wiirtemberg,  against  whom  the  peasantry 
had  been  so  embittered  in  1513-14,  had  succumbed  in  the 
storm  which  broke  over  him  in  consequence  of  his  feud 
with  the  Huttens,  and  had  been  driven  from  his  country 
and  subjects ;  the  duchy  had  been  temporarily  taken  pos- 
session of  by  the  Emperor,  and  was  occupied  by  foreign 
troops.  This  had  been  accomplished  by  the  sworn  hatred 
of  an  extraordinary  coalition ;  the  whole  country  was  against 
the  Duke;  his  godless  government  had  incensed  nobles, 
citizens,  and  peasants;  the  Swabian  League  was  against  him, 
and  his  own  relatives  were  ready  to  enrich  themselves  with 
his  booty.  The  blow  had  been  aimed  at  him  successfully, 
but  it  did  not  bring  succour  to  the  country. 

It  was  discovered  that  the  most  frightful  tyranny  of  a 
native  prince  may,  under  some  circumstances,  be  more 
tolerable  than  the  yoke  of  foreign  soldiery.  Ill  as  Ulrich 
had  governed,  still  he  was  a  hereditary  ruler,  and  such  an 
one  does  not  forget  that  a  country  belongs  to  him  and  his 
house,  and  must  be  preserved  for  it.  A  bond  of  union 
exists  between  the  ruler  and  his  people,  but  any  similar 
relation  with  a  foreign  garrison  is  inconceivable.  Imperial 
troops  and  the  troops  of  the  Swabian  League  occupied  the 
country,  and  who  might  next  get  possession  of  it  nobody 
knew.  Thus  it  was  oppressed  and  drained  on  every  side. 

The  period  from  1520  till  afcer  1530  was  one  of  arbitrary 


1 82  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

rule,  during  which  the  people  were  sighing  for  Duke  Ulrich. 
Not  that  there  was  any  security  that  he  would  return  any 
better  than  before,  but  he  had  a  son,  now  grown  up,  who 
was  very  promising.  It  was  one  of  those  rare  cases  in 
which  nature  gives  an  unworthy  ruler  a  son  and  suc- 
cessor who  causes  his  father's  vices  to  be  forgotten. 

Prince  Christopher  was  exactly  the  opposite  of  his  father; 
he  was  as  earnest  and  moral  as  his  father  was  frivolous  and 
licentious ;  as  severe  to  himself  as  Ulrich  was  to  others ;  as 
economical  and  conscientious  in  expenditure  as  his  father 
was  reckless  and  extravagant.  And  the  country  was  his  by 
right ;  his  legitimate  rights  were  favoured  by  other  rulers, 
his  excellent  qualities  gained  the  hearts  of  the  Swabian 
people,  and  besides  all  this  there  was  another  very  im- 
portant consideration. 

Ulrich  and  his  son  Christopher  had  taken  refuge  at 
Mompelgard,  on  the  confines  of  Alsace  and  Burgundy. 
The  young  prince  had  there  adopted  the  new  doctrines,  and 
it  soon  became  known  that  he  was .  one  of  their  most 
zealous  adherents,  and  that  his  father  was  disposed  to  make 
concessions  on  this  point  if  he  were  allowed  to  return  to 
his  country. 

Thus  it  came  about,  that  in  the  circles  of  the  League 
of  Schmalkald  the  project  ripened  of  restoring  the  dukedom 
of  Wiirtemberg.  The  people  were  sullenly  rebelling  under 
the  oppression  of  a  foreign  yoke,  and  Protestantism  had 
spread  its  branches  throughout  the  country.*  The  pro- 
posal to  restore  the  legitimate  house  was  of  course  made 
with  the  understanding  that  it  would  add  to  the  Protestant 
ranks,  and  form  another  member  of  the  League  of 
Schmalkald. 

The  Elector  of  Saxony  and  the  Reformers,  Luther  and 
Melancthon,  had  scruples ;  they  called  to  mind  the  letter 
of  the  Peace,  by  which  any  such  arbitrary  extension  of  their 
creed  was  forbidden,  and  warned  the  league  that  it  might 
unawares  give  rise  to  a  sharp  conflict  with  the  Emperor. 
But  Philip  of  Hesse  overcame  all  scruples,  and  it  was 
really  accomplished  by  him,  and  not  by  the  league. 

Philip,  who  was  the  grandson  of  a  princess  of  Wurtem- 
berg,  had  for  ten  years  been  espousing  Ulrich's  cause — 

*  Rommel,  Philip  der  Grossmiithige,  1830.  Heyd.  Ulrich  von 
Wiirtemberg,  1841.  Kugler,  Gerzog  Ulrich  von  Wurtemberg.  Ul- 
mann  U.  v.  Wiirtemberg. 


THE  RESTORATION  IN   WURTEMBERG.         183 

had  given  him  refuge,  interceded  with  the  Emperor  for  him, 
and  had  in  vain  appealed  for  aid  to  Brunswick,  Bavaria, 
and  Saxony.  The  negotiations  he  entered  into  at  Bar-le- 
duc  in  1534,  with  King  Francis,  were  more  successful,  and 
led  to  a  promise  of  subsidies  without  any  more  burdensome 
conditions  than  the  mortgage  of  Ulrich's  possessions  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  Money  was  also  demanded 
in  other  quarters,  both  from  princes  and  cities,  and  an 
agreement  entered  into  with  Ulrich  himself. 

Favourable  as  the  circumstances  might  appear,  the 
Emperor  being  in  Spain,  Ferdinand  embarrassed  by 
Turkey  and  Hungary,  France  won  over,  the  Swabian 
League  dissolved,  and  eminent  princes  in  favour  of  the 
enterprise,  still  it  is  evident  that  Philip  regarded  it  seriously 
enough,  from  the  regulations  he  left  behind  him  in  case  of 
life  or  death,  and  the  splendid  force  he  assembled  ;  of  this 
the  Hessian  nobles  formed  the  nucleus. 

The  enemy  was  utterly  unprepared  for  the  attack.  On 
the  23rd  of  April  the  Landgrave  set  out  from  Cassel ;  crossed 
the  Maine  not  far  from  Frankfort ;  and  as  Frankfort  and  the 
Palatinate  refused  him  a  passage,  he  rapidly  made  his  way 
by  Erbach  and  Fiirstenau  into  Swabia.  From  Neckarsulm, 
Weinsberg,  and  Neuenstadt  on  the  Neckar,  he  advanced 
towards  the  enemy,  who,  expecting  that  he  would  have 
come  through  the  Palatinate,  had  stationed  themselves  on 
the  Eng,  near  Vaihingen,  and  now  first  assembled  at 
Heilbronn  and  Laufen.  A  decisive  engagement  took  place 
on  the  1 3th  of  May,  in  which  the  Landgrave  was  vic- 
torious. With  great  promptness  and  skill  he  followed  up 
his  victory.  Within  four  weeks  Wiirtemberg  was  taken,  the 
Landgrave's  troops  had  advanced  to  Upper  Swabia,  and  by 
the  29th  of  June  the  victory  was  confirmed  by  the  Peace  of 
Cadan.  The  Imperial  troops  took  their  departure,  and 
Duke  Ulrich  made  his  entry  amidst  the  rejoicings  of  the 
people  ;  he  brought  with  him  release  from  a  foreign  yoke, 
and  liberty  for  the  new  doctrines. 

King  Ferdinand,  the  Emperor's  brother,  renounced  his 
claim  to  the  duchy ;  the  House  of  Hapsburg  reserved  to 
itself  certain  rights,  in  consideration  of  which  the  Duke 
and  his  son  were  reinstated.  So  feeble  had  the  Imperial 
sovereignty  already  become,  that  a  single  resolute  prince 
was  able  by  a  coup-de-main,  in  time  of  peace,  to  rob  it  of  a 
possession  which  it  had  much  coveted. 


1 84  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

By  this  event,  a  Protestant  wedge  was  driven  into 
Southern  Germany,  an  important  accession  gained  for  the 
Protestant  cause,  and  the  League  of  Schmalkald  enriched 
by  a  valuable  outpost.  The  events  which  took  place  about 
the  same  time,  of  an  opposite  tendency,  were  not  sufficient 
to  counterbalance  it. 

In  Westphalia,  especially  at  Minister,*  partly  at  the 
instigation  of  foreign  fanatics,  that  hideous  caricature  of 
Christian  liberty  and  heathen  licentiousness  had  developed 
itself  which  resulted  in  the  extreme  form  of  Anabaptism,  and 
a  mad  kingdom  had  been  set  up.  This  mixture  of  real  enthu- 
siasm, misinterpretation  of  Scripture,  unbridled  sensuality,  and 
mere  coarse  depravity,  represented  a  frightful  form  of  mental 
aberration,  and  had  nothing  whatever  in  common  with  Pro- 
testantism, or  even  with  the  original  doctrine  of  Anabaptism. 

This  "Tailor  kingdom,"  t  this  theocracy  with  plurality  of 
wives,  communism,  and  bestial  licentiousness,  had  nothing 
whatever  of  Christianity  left  in  it.  The  professors  of  the 
original  doctrine  of  Anabaptism  entirely  declined  to  bear  any 
of  the  responsibility  of  it ;  and  when  the  rebels  were  routed 
by  the  neighbouring  Catholic  princes,  the  Protestants  could 
not  complain  that  it  was  a  victory  gained  over  themselves. 

The  Protestants,  therefore,  remained  perfectly  quiet. 
They  felt,  of  course,  that  in  this  case,  as  in  others,  the 
extermination  of  fanaticism  would  involve  the  destruction 
of  healthy  germs  of  Protestantism  :  but  that  could  not  be 
helped ;  it  would  have  been  a  far  greater  evil  to  have  made 
common  cause  with  John  of  Leyden. 

It  was  but  a  wild  reproduction  of  the  revolution  of 
1524-5,  in  which  also  the  Protestants  had  taken  no  part.  , 
In  Wiirtemberg,  on  the  contrary,  genuine  Protestantism 
obtained  the  victory  over  the  established  Catholic  govern- 
ment, which  was  no  less  than  the  Imperial  government 
itself. 

I  need  not  say  that  other  conversions  took  place  peace- 
ably ;  that  in  Northern  and  Central  Germany  whole  districts 
went  over  to  the  cause — Anhalt  and  Pomerania,  Augsburg, 
Frankfort,  Hanover,  Hamburg,  and  Kempten ;  nobody 
hindered  them,  the  League  was  the  only  power  in  Germany, 

*  Cornelius,  Berichte  der  Augenzeugen,  1853.  Dessen  Geschichte 
des  Miinsterschen  Aufnihrs,  1855. 

t  John  of  Leyden,  the  leader  of  this  sect,  who  was  called  "  King  of 
Zion,"  was  a  tailor. — TK. 


ATTEMPTS   AT  RECONCILIATION.  185 

and  it  might  be  expected  that  this  would  rise  in  revolt  as 
soon  as  ever  danger  threatened. 

The  disgraceful  end  of  the  disturbances  at  Miinster  could 
not  be  considered  a  misfortune  for  Protestantism,  neither 
could  the  downfall  of  the  rule  of  Wullenwever  at  Lubeck* 
in  August,  1535.  The  widespread  dominion  of  the  Han- 
seatic  League  and  its  mighty  capital  came  to  an  end ;  the 
democracy  of  Lubeck  lost  its  dominant  position,  but  the 
Lutheran  doctrines  did  not  fall  with  it.  As  Lutheranism 
would  from  the  first  have  nothing  to  do  with  worldly  politics, 
it  mostly  escaped  in  Germany  the  vicissitudes  which  might 
have  been  fatal  to  it.  The  vast  progress  that  it  was  making 
did  not  escape  the  Emperor,  but  neither  did  it  escape  him 
that  he  could  not  prevent  it.  He  stood  between  two  fires. 
He  would  have  liked  on  the  one  hand  to  put  down  Protest- 
antism, which  is  proved  by  the  countless  processes  in  the 
Supreme  Court  against  the  Protestants  ;  and,  on  the  other, 
he  would  have  liked  to  settle  accounts  with  Rome.  He 
still  demanded  a  council  to  make  reforms,  but  when  the 
arrangements  were  at  length  made  for  it,  and  a  council  was 
convoked  at  Mantua,  in  May,  1537,  he  was  not  in  reality 
any  nearer  than  before  to  attaining  his  object.  The  Protest- 
ants acted  as  if  everything  had  been  settled  by  the  Peace 
of  Nuremberg,  and  Pope  Paul  III.  preferred  to  put  up  with 
schism  rather  than  to  concede  reforms. 


THE  EMPEROR'S  ATTEMPTS  AT  RECONCILIATION,  1538-41. 

How  the  aspect  of  things  was  regarded  by  the  Emperor, 
we  learn  from  some  confidential  confessions  in  his  de- 
spatches. About  the  time  that  the  foregoing  events  occurred, 
and  the  preponderancy  of  the  League  of  Schmalkald  was  on 
the  increase,  he  gave,  in  October,  1536,  an  instruction  to 
his  Vice-Chancellor,  Held,  for  his  brother  Frederic,  the  con- 
tents of  which  are  very  instructive  as  to  his  standpoint.! 

He  lays  great  stress  upon  the  fact  that  religious  discord 
in  Germany  was  waxing  greater  and  greater — that  if  it  were 
not  prevented,  the  political  position  of  the  Emperor  and  his 
government  in  Germany  would  be  at  an  end.  But  the 
P^mperor  required  a  strong  reserve  in  Germany  especially 

*  Waitz.     Wullenwever,  1855-6. 
f  Lanz.  Correspondent.     Fr^m  the  Archives  at  Brussels. 


I  86  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

against  France,  and  therefore  measures  must  be  taken  with- 
out further  delay  to  redress  the  evil. 

He  then  complains  that  the  Pope  was  so  little  disposed  to 
help,  that  he  persevered  in  his  cold  or  hypocritical  attitude, 
and  would  not  seriously  entertain  the  idea  of  the  council. 
If  there  should  be  no  change,  he  asked  his  brother,  in  pro- 
found confidence,  whether  there  was  not  some  method  of  dis- 
posing Germany  to  such  a  council,  in  case  of  need,  without 
the  Pope  or  King  Francis  I.,  who  could  not  be  persuaded 
into  it?  Should  that  fail,  they  must  at  once  look  out  for 
some  other  means  of  once  for  all  preventing  any  further 
declension  from  the  faith,  and  of  enforcing  the  terms  of  the 
Treaty  of  Nuremberg.  Perhaps  it  might  then  be  possible  to 
convene,  if  not  a  council,  a  national  assembly,  at  which  the 
question  might  be  satisfactorily  adjusted. 

He  then  wrote  to  his  sister  Mary,  the  widowed  Queen  of 
Hungary,  and  counselled  her  to  take  every  means  of  pre- 
venting further  divisions. 

Meanwhile,  Vice-Chancellor  Held,  by  the  way  in  which 
he  understood  and  endeavoured  to  carry  out  the  Imperial 
commission,  only  threw  oil  upon  the  flames.  Instead  of 
attempting  to  mediate  and  conciliate  according  to  his  in- 
structions, he  proceeded  bluntly  and  imperiously— demanded 
in  an  arrogant  tone  that  the  Protestants  should,  without 
delay,  submit  to  the  Papal  Council  and  the  decrees  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  when  they  refused,  remembering  that, 
even  in  the  terms  of  the  convocation  of  the  council,  the 
extermination  of  the  "pestilent  Lutheran  heresy"  was 
spoken  of,  and  that  in  the  Supreme  Court  only  sworn 
enemies  of  Protestantism  had  seats,  Held  rushed  irom  one 
Catholic  court  to  another,  inciting  and  urging  them  on,  till, 
on  June  loth,  1538,  the  League  of  Nuremberg  was  formed, 
in  which  George  of  Saxony,  the  two  Dukes  of  Brunswick, 
Albert  of  Brandenburg,  Bavaria,  King  Ferdinand,  and 
Salzburg  united  against  the  League  of  Schmalkald. 

This  Catholic  league  was  not  what  the  Emperor  wanted, 
and,  even  according  to  the  views  of  the  instigator  of  it,  it 
was  a  great  error ;  an  agreement  like  this,  only  entered  into 
on  paper,  without  arms,  without  money,  only  called  the 
Protestants  out,  without  any  sufficient  force  to  oppose  them. 
The  Emperor's  sister  saw  this  plainly,  and  her  reply  to  his 
exhortations  contained  a  faithful  reproof  for  these  doings. 
In  the  autumn  of  1538  she  wrote:  "As  things  stand  in 


VICE-CHANCELLOR  HELD.  187 

Germany,  we  must  try  to  retain  every  friendship  there  that 
we  can.  Thus  Philip  of  Hesse  was  one  of  the  ablest 
princes  in  the  empire,  and  he  was  loyal  to  the  Emperor  ;  a 
permanent  good  understanding  should  have  been  sought 
with  him.  instead  of  which  Vice-Chancellor  Held  had  given 
him  and  his  allies  great  offence,  and  excited  their  just  sus- 
picions by  the  League  of  Nuremberg.  Why  was  not  the 
matter  allowed  to  rest  until  a  general  council  should  be 
held?  Every  effort  must  be  made  to  heal  the  religious 
differences  peaceably,  and  to  this  end  a  good  understanding 
must  be  maintained  with  the  most  able  princes,  and  es- 
pecially with  Philip  of  Hesse." 

To  a  certain  extent  the  Emperor  followed  his  sister's 
advice,  but  with  the  hesitation  and  reservation  which 
mark  his  whole  policy  in  this  matter  from  first  to  last. 
Instead  of  proceeding  according  to  Held's  plan,  with  oppo- 
sition leagues  and  persecution,  negotiation  and  religious 
discussions  were  tried  for  a  time;  these  took  place  in  1540 
and  1541,  at  Hagenau,  Worms,  and  Ratibbon.  An  attempt 
was  made  to  come  to  a  peacelul  understanding  on  all  points 
on  which  there  had  been  the  nearest  approach  to  agreement 
since  1517,  and  now,  for  the  first  and  last  time,  the  question 
was  seriously  discussed  at  Rome,  whether  an  attempt  should 
not  be  made  to  restore  the  unity  of  the  Church  by  honestly 
meeting  the  Protestants'  justifiable  demands  for  reforms. 

The  cardinals  with  whom  Pope  Paul  III.  surrounded 
himself  at  the  beginning  of  his  government  were  cultivated, 
enlightened  ecclesiastics,  and  several  of  them,  such  as  the 
intellectual  Contarini  of  Venice,  Sadolet,  Poole,  Morone, 
and  at  that  time  even  Caraffa,  who  was  afterwards,  as  Paul 
IV.,  the  Pope  of  the  reaction,  were  avowedly  in  favour  of 
reform.  A  remarkable  project  of  reform  had  emanated  from 
this  circle,  which,  though  it  did  not  go  far  enough  for  the 
Protestants,  was  a  significant  indication  of  the  then  prevail- 
ing sentiments  of  the  Curia. 

The  princes  being  generally  in  favour  of  a  peaceful  settle- 
ment of  the  question,  the  attitude  of  the  Curia  secured  that 
the  discussions  which  were  being  held  should  be  of  a  con- 
ciliatory character.  If  there  was,  however,  any  approxima- 
tion on  questions  of  pure  faith,  on  those  relating  to  Church 
government  and  the  Papal  authority,  the  parties  were  as  far 
apart  at  the  end  as  at  the  beginning.  But  there  was  one 
advantage  in  this  state  of  indecision,  that  the  peace  con- 


l88  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

eluded  in  1532  was  not  disturbed  ;  that,  by  a  favourable 
interpretation  of  it,  it  even  allowed  Protestantism  to  make 
progress,  and  every  fresh  adherent  of  the  Confession  of  Augs- 
burg enjoyed  the  same  toleration  as  those  who  then  sub- 
scribed to  it. 

Thus  the  interim  of  Ratisbon  arose,  and  the  decree  of 
the  Diet  of  agth  July,  1541.  In  order  to  secure  the  aid  of 
the  Protestants  against  the  Turks,  the  Emperor  conceded 
as  much  as  possible ;  besides  an  exhortation  to  the  Pope 
"  to  institute  Christian  regulations  and  reforms,  which 
would  conduce  to  good,  seemly,  and  wholesome  administra- 
tion of  the  churches;"  there  followed  a  confirmation  of 
the  Treaty  of  Nuremberg,  in  which  accusations  to  the 
Supreme  Court  and  the  clauses  about  new  converts  were 
omitted.  The  exclusion  of  Protestants  from  the  Supreme 
Court  ceased,  the  pending  processes  were  discontinued 
until  a  general  or  national  council  was  held,  or  a  general 
Diet  for  the  settlement  of  this  question  ;  and  in  conclusion 
it  was  ordained  "  that  if  anybody  else  should  wish  to  adopt 
their  religion  he  was  not  to  be  prevented." 

This,  however,  was  not  sincere,  for  just  at  the  same  time 
the  Emperor  renewed  the  League  of  Nuremberg  against  the 
Protestants,  and  proclaimed  that  he  had  induced  the  Pope 
to  join  it.  Moreover,  he  was  just  then  giving  up  all  idea  of 
a  real  reconciliation  for  ever,  and  was  only  waiting  for 
better  times  to  take  open  measures  against  these  incor- 
rigible people. 

Meanwhile,  favoured  by  the  temporary  truce,  important 
changes  had  taken  place,  which  taught  the  Emperor  that 
the  progress  of  the  new  doctrine  far  surpassed  his  fears. 

DECIDED  PROGRESS  OF  PROTESTANTISM,  1539-44. — 
BRANDENBURG. — DUCHY  OF  SAXONY. — BRUNSWICK. — 
COLOGNE. 

To  the  progress  which  Protestantism  had  made  since  the 
Treaty  of  Nuremberg  in  Wiirtemberg,  Pomerania,  Anhalt, 
Mecklenburg,  and  the  Imperial  cities,  may  be  added  the 
conversion  of  two  whole  countries  whose  rulers  had  hitherto 
been  among  the  most  faithful  adherents  of  the  ancient 
Church — Brandenburg  and  Albertine  Saxony;  the  bishoprics 
of  Magdeburg,  Halberstadt,  and  Naumburg  had  also  gone 
over. 


BRANDENBURG.  1 89 

The  Elector  Joachim  of  Brandenburg  was  justly  con- 
sidered to  be  one  of  the  most  decided  opponents  of  the 
Lutheran  doctrines ;  he  had  all  his  life  adhered  strictly  to 
the  old  faith,  and  made  strenuous  endeavours  to  prevent  his 
country  from  falling  into  heresy  after  his  death.  But  Bran- 
denburg was  surrounded  by  Protestant  influences — on  the 
north  by  Pomerania  and  Mecklenburg,  which  had  al- 
ready gone  over ;  on  the  west  by  the  bishoprics  on  the 
Elbe,  Magdeburg,  Halberstadt,  and  Naumburg ;  and  on  the 
south  by  the  Electorate  of  Saxony,  which  had  been  in- 
clined to  the  new  doctrine  from  the  beginning ;  besides,  in 
the  multiplicity  of  states  under  the  old  empire,  no  country 
could  be  isolated  as  it  can  now — the  states  everywhere  ran 
one  into  another.  When  the  Elector  Joachim  I.  died  in  1539, 
it  came  to  light  that  the  Protestant  doctrines  numbered 
thousands  of  adherents,  and  that,  in  spite  of  all  his  strict 
measures,  a  Protestant  community  had  been  secretly  formed, 
which  was  only  waiting  for  a  favourable  moment  to  appear 
openly.  His  sons,  whose  adherence  to  the  old  faith  he  had 
taken  every  means  to  secure,  did  not  continue  his  policy. 
The  younger,  the  Margrave  John,  openly  declared  himself 
for  Luther,  and  was  the  first  to  grant  unlimited  freedom  to 
the  new  doctrines  in  his  little  inheritance.  The  elder,  the 
Elector  Joachim  II.,  remained  a  Catholic  himself  for  years, 
but  he  allowed  the  impulses  of  his  people  free  course, 
renounced  the  fanatical  party  among  the  Catholic  princes, 
abolished  the  mass,  and  began  to  reform  the  Church. 
It  appeared  that  he  dreaded  open  defection  and  a 
quarrel  with  the  Emperor,  but  he  \vas  in  fact  akeady  a 
convert 

In  this  case,  as  in  Albertine  Saxony,  it  was  not  the  rulers 
who  gave  the  impulse  to  reform,  but  the  people.  In  both 
countries  the  rulers  would  have  abided  by  the  old  system, 
but  when  it  would  not  work  any  longer  they  accommodated 
themselves  to  circumstances.  In  Albertine  Saxony  the  old 
faith  outwardly  retained  its  dominion  till  1539.  Any  one 
who  publicly  avowed  Lutheran  sentiments  was  threatened 
with  vengeance  and  punished  severely  enough,  but  it  was 
well  known  that  there  were  thousands  who  did  not  hesitate 
to  walk  a  few  miles  and  go  over  to  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
Ernestine  Saxony. 

Duke  George  was  a  warm  and  sincere  adherent  of  the 
old  faith,  and  he  was  thoroughly  a  party  man.  But  he 


10.0  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

could  not  prevent  his  brother  Henry  from  allowing  free 
course  to  the  new  doctrines  in  the  little  territory  of 
Freiberg-Wolkenstein,  over  which  he  ruled,  still  less  could 
he  prevent  that  his  Ernestine  relative  should  permit  Luther- 
anism  to  spread  in  his  splendid  Electorate,  or  that  his  own 
subjects  should  cross  the  border;  and  thus,  in  spite  of  all  his 
restrictions,  heresy  found  its  way  into  the  city  of  Leipzig. 

The  idea  weighed  heavily  on  the  old  gentleman's  heart 
that  the  new  doctrines  would  make  their  entry  into  his 
country  over  his  newly-made  grave.  He  projected  many 
schemes  which  show  his  earnest  desire  to  avert  it  at  all 
hazards.  Thus  in  his  will  he  made  the  unheard-of  pro- 
vision that  in  case  of  need  his  legitimate  successor  should 
be  set  aside ;  that  after  his  death  a  sort  of  provisional 
government  should  be  established,  composed  of  individuals 
devoted  to  him  and  the  old  doctrines,  and  in  which  King 
Ferdinand,  the  Emperor's  brother,  was  to  take  part.  This 
involved  the  entire  exclusion  of  his  own  family  in  favour  of 
the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  this  desperate  measure  was 
adopted  in  order  to  bind  his  country  to  the  old  system. 

But  still  more  rapidly  than  Duke  George  ever  foreboded 
in  his  most  gloomy  moments  did  the  old  Church  system  fall 
to  pieces  in  Albertine  Saxony  after  his  death.  On  the 
evening  of  his  death,  lyth  April,  1539,  Duke  Henry 
appeared  in  Dresden,  accompanied  by  the  Wittenberg  re- 
formers, and  he  was  supported  by  the  League  of  Schmalkald, 
which  had  twenty  thousand  infantry  and  four  thousand 
cavalry  at  its  disposal;  the  long-suppressed  spirit  of  the 
new  doctrines  broke  out  everywhere,  and  a  single  visitation 
of  the  churches,  on  July  6th,  sufficed  to  accomplish  the 
reform,  or  rather  to  bring  to  light  the  conversion  which  had 
long  ago  taken  place. 

It  was  under  the  impression  produced  by  all  these  trans- 
formations that,  about  1540,  the  Emperor's  attempts  at 
reconciliation  were  made.  It  was  obvious  that  the  Pro- 
testants and  the  League  of  Schmalkald  were  in  a  decided 
majority,  and  still  greater  successes  might  be  feared.  In  the 
south,  Protestantism  had  been  already  adopted  by  Wurtem- 
berg  and  the  great  imperial  cities  of  Nuremberg,  Augsburg, 
Ulm,  Constance,  and  Strasburg,  which  weighed  heavily  in 
the  scale ;  then  by  the  whole  of  central  Germany,  Thurin- 
gia,  Saxony,  Hesse,  part  of  Brunswick,  and  the  territory  of 
the  Guelphs ;  in  the  north,  by  the  bishoprics  of  Magdeburg, 


PROGRESS   OF  PROTESTANTISM.  IQI 

Halberstadt,  and  Naumburg,  and  Hildesheim  was  at  least 
inclined  to  join  them  ;  by  East  Friesland,  the  Hanse  Towns, 
Holstein  and  Schleswig,  Pomerania,  Mecklenburg,  Anhalt, 
Silesia,  the  Saxon  states,  Brandenburg,  and  Prussia. 

Of  the  larger  states  that  were  closed  against  it  there 
remained  only  Austria,  Bavaria,  the  Palatinate,  and  the 
Rhenish  Electorates ;  how  long  Duke  Henry  of  Brunswick 
might  keep  himself  as  an  oasis  in  the  midst  of  the  desert  of 
North  German  heresy  was  very  doubtful.  The  states 
capable  of  resistance  were  only  Austria,  Bavaria,  the  Pala- 
tinate, and  the  ecclesiastical  Rhenish  provinces.  But  even 
these  were  beginning  to  vacillate,  and  it  is  probably  correct 
to  ascribe  to  the  indications  of  this  an  important  influence 
upon  the  Emperor's  resolutions. 

The  idea  that  the  Lutheran  propaganda  would  spread 
and  increase  in  strength,  that  sooner  or  later  it  would  be 
impossible  to  arrest  it,  that  his  own  inheritance  must 
finally  be  overrun  by  it,  and  that  with  the  probable  deser- 
tion of  the  ecclesiastical  electorates  the  last  support  of  the 
imperial  authority  would  fall — all  this  had  a  decided  in- 
fluence on  the  course  of  events  which  led  to  the  Schmal- 
kald  war. 

In  Austria  itself,  in  spite  of  the  Convention  of  Ratisbon 
of  1524,  that  Protestant  movement  began  which  at  the  end 
of  the  sixteenth  and  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
brought  over  by  tar  the  greater  part  of  the  country  to  Pro- 
testantism, and  it  was  only  the  horrors  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  that  rooted  it  out.  Among  the  landowning  nobility, 
the  peasantry,  and  in  some  of  the  cities,  the  spirit  of 
innovation  grew  stronger  and  stronger ;  and  embarrassed  as 
the  country  was  by  Turkey  and  Hungary,  suspiciously 
watched  by  Bavaria,  and  the  imperial  authority  weakened 
by  entanglement  with  foreign  affairs,  it  was  impossible  to 
meet  the  earnest  demand  of  the  States  for  reform  by  an 
absolute  refusal. 

A  similar  state  of  things  existed  in  Bavaria.  A  Church 
visitation  by  the  Convention  of  Ratisbon  had  shown  the 
state  of  the  clergy.  The  investigation  brought  an  abyss  of 
abuses  to  light,  and  increased  the  desire  for  thorough 
reform.  If  the  desire  were  granted,  there  was  no  saying 
where  it  would  stop,  and  whether  it  would  not  end  in  the 
country's  going  over  to  Lutheranism. 

The  new  doctrines  had  gained  the  day  in  Palatine  Neu- 


I Q2  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

burg,  and  it  was  not  likely  that  the  old  Palatinal  electorates, 
surrounded  as  they  were  by  purely  Protestant  districts, 
would  hold  out  much  longer.  Otto  Henry  had  laboured 
zealously  to  keep  them  Catholic ;  Louis  V.  had  mediated  as 
a  shrewd  diplomatist  between  Lutheranism  and  Catholicism ; 
but  Frederic  II.  was  by  no  means  the  man  to  withstand  the 
universal  tendency. 

In  not  one  of  these  cases  had  any  pressure  been  brought 
to  bear  from  above ;  it  came  from  beneath,  and  the 
authorities  yielded  to  it.  Of  men  like  John  of  Saxony  and 
Philip  of  Hesse,  it  may  be  said  that  they  were  Lutherans 
heart  and  soul,  and  laboured  actively  to  spread  it ;  but  in 
Austria,  Bavaria,  the  Palatinate,  and  Brandenburg,  the  rulers 
would  have  kept  to  the  old  faith  had  it  been  possible. 

Among  the  North  German  princes  there  was  but  one  on 
whose  unconditional  devotion  the  Emperor  could  rely ;  this 
was  Duke  Henry  of  Brunswick,  the  same  whom  Luther 
handled  more  roughly  in  controversy  than  he  did  Henry 
VIII.  He  was  a  man  who,  though  not  exactly  a  dissolute 
buffoon,  was  utterly  unworthy  to  wear  a  crown,  and  he  was 
extremely  active  in  fomenting  quarrels  for  the  Emperor  and 
his  brother.  He  fumed  and  stormed  incessantly  against  the 
Protestants,  more  from  his  own  uneasiness  than  because  the 
danger  was  really  so  great.  He  was  a  restless,  adventurous 
spirit,  and  was  given  to  meddle  with  the  neighbouring  imperial 
cities.  Goslar  had  pulled  down  a  few  monasteries,  and  was 
therefore  laid  under  an  interdict  by  the  Supreme  Court. 
This  sentence,  however,  like  all  others  of  the  kind,  had 
been  expressly  declared  void  by  the  Declaration  of  Ratis- 
bon,  but  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  insisted  upon  its  being 
carried  out.  Besides  this,  he  had  made  all  sorts  of  disturb- 
ances in  the  town  of  Brunswick.  Although  warned  by 
King  Ferdinand  that  he  would  have  no  help  from  the 
imperial  side,  he  would  not  be  quiet,  and  was  at  length 
attacked  by  the  League  of  Schmalkald,  which  had  long 
wished  to  come  to  an  engagement  with  its  unfriendly  neigh- 
bour. Together  with  the  forces  of  the  two  cities,  the  troops 
of  the  Landgrave  and  the  Saxon  Elector  advanced  twenty 
thousand  strong;  the  Duke  fled,  his  country  was  conquered, 
and  Protestantism  established.  This  was  in  the  summer  of 
1542. 

This  event  produced  great  uneasiness  at  the  Imperial 
Court,  but  another  case  was  a  still  greater  blow.  The  eccle- 


DUKE   HENRY   OF  BRUNSWICK.  193 

siastical  electorate  of  Cologne  was  on  the  point  of  being  lost 
to  the  Catholic  Church.  If  this  took  place,  it  would  make 
an  irreparable  breach  in  the  constitution  of  the  empire,  and 
no  one  could  tell  how  long  the  neighbouring  ecclesiastical 
states  might  stand  firm. 

It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  the  ecclesiastical  founda- 
tions to  be  lost  to  the  Romish  Church  by  the  conversion  of 
their  dignitaries.  The  first  memorable  instance  of  this  was 
the  case  of  the  master  of  the  German  Order,  Duke  Albert 
of  Brandenburg,  who,  in  1525,  in  despair  proclaimed  his 
country  a  secular  state,  left  the  Church  with  his  Order,  and 
made  himself  a  temporal  hereditary  ruler. 

This  was  not  at  first  regarded  as  of  much  importance,  for 
the  country  was  looked  upon  as  lost  before,  and  moreover  it 
did  not  belong  to  the  empire.  But  when  the  same  thing 
occurred  at  Halberstadt,  Magdeburg,  and  Naumburg,  it 
began  to  look  ominous,  and  would  be  still  more  so  if  the 
Rhenish  electoral  states  were  seized  with  the  spirit  of 
defection. 

It  was  only  in  Germany  that  ecclesiastical  principalities, 
except  the  Papal  States,  existed.  In  France,  England,  and 
Spain  the  bishops  had  long  been  deprived  of  their  temporal 
power.  This  amalgamation  of  temporal  and  spiritual  power 
was  one  of  the  essential  conditions  of  the  old  German 
empire,  and  it  was  only  at  the  beginning  of  this  century 
that  the  anomaly  was  abolished  ;  at  the  time  of  which  we 
speak  it  was  still  in  full  force.  Half  a  hundred  bishops, 
wielding  temporal  power,  scattered  over  the  greater  part  of 
the  country,  gave  the  Catholic  Church  in  Germany  a  very 
formidable  and  almost  unassailable  power.  In  the  first  rank 
stood  the  electoral  states  of  Mayence,  Cologne,  Treves,  and 
Salzburg ;  then  the  Westphalian  archbishoprics  on  the  Elbe 
and  the  Weser,  Wiirzburg,  Bamberg,  Freising,  Augsburg, 
and  Ratisbon.  It  was  a  fine  array  of  ecclesiastical  states, 
and  if  they  once  began  to  be  secularised,  the  Church  would 
lose  a  powerful  support.  In  our  age  only  a  portion  of  them 
remained,  and  when  they  were  suppressed  the  previous 
German  imperial  constitution  became  impossible. 

The  defection  of  a  Roman  Catholic  archbishopric  among 
the  Rhenish  electorates  was  therefore  a  great  event ;  it 
would,  if  it  took  place,  change  the  essential  character  of  the 
imperial  constitution.  The  Electoral  Board  would  then 
have  a  Protestant  majority ;  there  were  already  Protestants 

o 


IQ4  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

in  it,  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  and  the  Palatinate  ;  if  they  were 
joined  by  Electoral  Cologne  there  would  be  four  against 
three,  and  in  every  future  election  of  an  Emperor  the  Pro- 
testant creed  would  gain  the  day.  It  followed  as  a  matter 
of  course  that  the  house  of  Hapsburg  would  be  excluded 
from  the  empire. 

In  the  evening  of  his  days  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne, 
Hermann  von  Wied,  declared  his  conviction  of  the  truth  of 
the  Protestant  doctrines ;  he  began  to  invite  Protestant 
theologians,  and  seemed  resolved  to  carry  out  the  Refor- 
mation in  Cologne  by  virtue  of  the  decree  of  1526.  This 
would  make  a  breach  in  the  German  ecclesiastical  states, 
and  establish  on  the  nether  Rhine,  between  Westphalia  and 
the  Emperor's  possessions  in  Holland,  a  fortress  which 
would  soon  be  impregnable.  If  the  enterprise  succeeded, 
others  would  be  sure  to  follow.  Hermann  von  Wied  was  a 
man  devoid  of  self-interest  or  ambition,  whose  only  desire 
was  to  act  in  accordance  with  his  conscience  ;  but  there  were 
other  ecclesiastics  whose  motives  were  less  pure,  and  who 
were  tempted  to  make  use  of  Protestantism  in  order  to 
become  temporal  hereditary  rulers. 

The  archbishop  found  sympathy  with  the  inferior  clergy, 
the  secular  states,  and  the  country  people,  but  not  with  the 
chapter  or  the  population  of  Cologne.  The  decision  was  long 
in  the  balance ;  the  Emperor's  nearest  interests  forbade  his 
allowing  it  to  take  its  course.  The  events  at  Brunswick 
and  Cologne  would  forebode  an  entire  revolution  in  German 
affairs  if  they  passed  unheeded.  If  the  Emperor  waited  a 
few  years  longer,  the  conquests  of  Protestantism  would 
acquire  a  legal  standing  ;  the  new  doctrines,  which  already. 
possessed  so  powerful  a  reserve  in  the  nation,  would  then 
have  overpowered  the  chief  constituent  parts  of  the  empire, 
and  a  restoration  such  as  the  Emperor  had  always  projected 
could  no  longer  be  thought  of.  There  was  another  reason 
which  induced  the  Emperor  to  take  active  measures.  He 
had  persisted  in  the  idea  that  ecclesiastical  affairs  would  be 
finally  arranged  by  a  council.  There  was  a  time  when  it 
would  have  been  a  not  unwelcome  expedient  to  the  adhe- 
rents of  the  new  doctrines  who  had  not  yet  "protested." 
Had  they  been  offered  a  council  in  1518,  1519,  and  1521,  in- 
stead of  being  threatened  with  excommunication,  the  schism 
would  have  been  avoided,  and  the  innovators  would  not 
have  been  able  to  boast  of  a  consolidated  power.  But  all 


RECONCILIATION  IMPOSSIBLE.  195 

this  was  changed  after  1526  ;  after  the  Protestants  had  their 
own  churches  and  regulations  for  public  worship,  any  return 
became  every  year  more  difficult,  and  the  breach  became 
wider  and  wider.  The  changes  that  took  place  between 
that  time  and  1532  were  secured  by  the  Peace  of  Nurem- 
berg ;  and  for  the  still  greater  changes  that  took  place  after- 
wards, formal  recognition  had  been  extorted  at  Ratisbon. 
It  was  no  longer  of  any  use  to  talk  to  the  Protestants  of  a 
council ;  for  them  the  question  of  legality  was  settled,  their 
own  Church  system  was  established,  the  Reformation  in 
Germany  had  an  undoubted  preponderance  both  in  extent 
and  internal  strength  ;  and  this  they  would  openly  sacrifice 
if  they  did  but  theoretically  submit  to  the  papal  authority. 
It  was  easy  to  say,  "  We  will  grant  reforms,  but  then  you 
must  submit  to  the  Pope;"  no  sincere  Protestant  could  any 
longer  accept  these  terms  without  renouncing  the  vital  prin- 
ciples of  his  party. 

Increasing  anxiety  at  the  threatening  aspect  of  the  Refor- 
mation— the  idea  that  the  council  and  the  unity  of  the 
Church  must  be  secured  at  the  eleventh  hour,  or  would  be 
lost  for  ever,  turned  the  scale,  and  decided  the  Emperor  to 
adopt  the  most  serious  measures. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Schmalkald  War,  1546-7.— The  Emperor's  Preparations  for 
War  after  1544. — Security,  Dissensions,  and  Negligence  of  the 
Schmalkald  Party,  1545-6. — Duke  Maurice  of  Saxony,  his  cha- 
racter and  policy. — League  with  the  Emperor,  June,  1546. — The 
War,  from  the  summer  of  1546  to  the  spring  of  1547. — Pitiful 
Warfare  of  the  Allies  on  the  Danube. — Invasion  of  Electoral 
Saxony  by  Maurice. — Battle  of  Miihlberg,  24th  April,  1547.* 

THE  EMPEROR'S  PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR  AFTER  1544. 
SECURITY,  DISSENSIONS,  AND  NEGLIGENCE  OF  THE 
SCHMALKALD  PARTY. 

HTHE  Emperor  still  maintained  an  appearance  of  conci- 
-l-  liation,  but  his  resolutions  were  taken.  He  opened 
and  closed  the  Diet  at  Spire  in  1544  with  smooth  words, 
and  in  the  decree  of  June  in  the  same  year  confirmed  the 
previous  concessions,  and,  with  special  emphasis  on  his  own 
desire  for  reforms,  he  called  upon  every  state  of  the  empire 
to  form  plans  for  their  unanimous  accomplishment ;  but 
none  of  this  was  sincere.  Preparations  for  a  struggle  were 
already  made,  and  his  purpose  was  to  lull  the  Schmalkald 
party  into  illusive  security.  He  had  just  successfully  con- 
cluded his  fourth  war  with  France.  Early  in  September  he 
had  advanced  victoriously  into  the  vicinity  of  Paris,  further 
than  any  German  Emperor  since  Otto  II.,  and  had  suddenly 
concluded  a  peace  more  moderate  in  its  conditions  than  is 
often  granted  to  a  vanquished  foe  in  such  circumstances. 
The  Emperor  wanted  a  lasting  peace,  and  a  trustworthy 
ally  against  the  heretics  in  Germany.  By  the  Treaty  of 
Crespy  of  the  i4th  of  September  a  joint  action  against  the 
apostates  was  agreed  upon,  which  suffices  to  reveal  the 
Emperor's  tactics. 

*  Maurenbrecher,  Karl  V.  und  die  Deutschen  Protestanten,  1545-55. 
Dusseldorf.    1865. 


THE  EMPEROR'S  TACTICS.  197 

In  Germany  he  allayed  the  suspicions  of  the  Protestants 
by  a  promise  of  reforms — if  not  by  a  council,  certainly  by  a 
national  assembly — and,  in  return,  the  Protestants  were  to 
be  at  his  disposal  against  France  and  the  Turks,  though  in 
France  he  was  securing  a  companion  in  arms  against  them. 
All  these  events  were  only  separated  by  a  few  months,  and 
the  great  error  of  the  Schmalkald  party  was  that  they  put 
iaith  in  the  Emperor's  sincerity.  They  forgot  that  he  only 
reluctantly  conceded  the  peace  of  Nuremberg  in  1532,  that 
ten  years  later  he  was  only  compelled  by  necessity  to  con- 
firm it,  and  that  they  ought  to  be  continually  on  their  guard 
against  him.  They  were  so  elated  by  the  progress  of  their 
cause,  and  the  increase  of  their  power,  that  they  put  aside 
every  thought  of  fresh  danger,  aided  the  Emperor  bravely 
against  France  and  the  Turks,  and  thus  helped  to  forge  the 
chains  that  were  intended  for  themselves. 

By  1544  the  Emperor  had  resolved  upon  war,  and  the 
outbreak  of  it  was  only  a  question  of  time.  The  following 
year  passed  away  in  fruitless  efforts  on  both  sides  to  come 
to  terms,  but  animosity  increased  until  a  breach  was  inevi- 
table. Then  the  catastrophe  happened  to  Henry  of  Bruns- 
wick. 

By  the  campaign  of  1542  he  had  been  deprived  of  his 
territory.  With  at  least  the  apparent  concurrence  of 
the  Emperor  it  had  been  sequestrated  by  the  League  of 
Schmalkald.  Meanwhile  the  exile  had  procured  money  and 
troops  in  order  to  make  an  attack  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year.  But  his  defeat  at  Kahlfeld,  near  Nordheim,  on 
October  21,  1545,  put  an  end  to  all  his  hopes,  and  made 
him  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  victors. 

Besides  many  ominous  signs  and  disquieting  rumours,  it 
was  significant,  that  at  the  new  Diet  at  Worms,  May,  1545, 
there  was  no  talk  of  carrying  out  the  concessions  of  Spire, 
though  the  Council  of  Trent  was  urgently  recommended. 
The  Landgrave  Philip  said  it  seemed  to  him  like  tantalizing 
a  child  with  an  apple.  A  fresh  discussion  of  religion  was 
arranged  for  the  next  year ;  meanwhile  the  position  of 
affairs  become  day  by  day  more  critical.  The  meeting  took 
place  without  any  sincere  desire  to  come  to  an  understand- 
ing, and  separated  with  noisy  altercation. 

In  the  summer  of  1546,  a  convention  of  the  League  of 
Schmalkald  took  place  at  Frankfort,  and  it  was  found  that 
its  power  had  been  overrated.  The  Landgrave's  worst 


198  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

fears  were  realised.  As  early  as  in  1539  he  had  said  to 
Bucer,  "  In  the  campaign  in  Wiirtemberg  all  were  led  by 
him,  but  now  several  wanted  to  lead.  Too  many  cooks 
spoil  the  broth.  The  Protestant  League  must  not  be  made 
an  idol  of.  The  Christian  ranks  did  not  always  hold 
Christian  sentiments — a  great  deal  that  was  worldly  was 
mixed  up  with  them.  Many  neglected  the  duty  of  con- 
tributing, and,  when  it  came  to  the  point,  still  more  would 
draw  back  who  were  now  complaining  of  the  peace." 

All  this  was  verified  even  before  it  came  to  an  engage- 
ment. The  cities  disputed  with  the  princes ;  an  important 
neighbour,  Prince  Maurice  of  Saxony,  equivocated  ; 
the  Elector  John  Frederic,  the  extent  of  whose  dominions 
entitled  him  to  command,  was  troublesome ;  and  alarm  at 
the  imperial  preparations  prevented  some  of  the  allies  from 
making  any  attempt  at  assembling  their  forces.  The  Land- 
grave's attempt  to  get  an  explanation  of  some  ominous 
proceedings  of  the  imperial  party  were  answered  by  Gran- 
vella  with  smooth  speeches ;  and  at  the  last  meeting  at 
Spire,  March,  1546,  at  which  Charles  and  his  ministers 
were  present,  although  the  discussions  were  carried  on 
with  an  unmistakable  object  in  a  peaceable  tone,  they 
produced  a  disquieting  effect  upon  the  Landgrave.  The 
negotiations  mainly  related  to  three  points  :  whether  there 
should  be  a  Council  of  Trent  or  a  National  Council,  to 
the  affairs  of  Cologne,  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  conces- 
sions of  Spire.  On  all  three  points,  in  spite  of  outward 
complaisance,  the  imperial  party  kept  inexorably  to  its  own 
policy. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  i8th  of  February,  1546,  Luther  had 
died.  We  must  suppose  from  his  views  that  he  would  have 
counselled  peace  to  the  last,  and  with  his  death  one  obstacle 
to  war  was  gone. 

At  the  Diet  at  Ratisbon,  thinly  attended,  and  with  a 
majority  for  the  Emperor,  the  breach  was  still  more  obvious  ; 
the  Emperor  had  formed  his  alliances,  and  no  longer  took 
any  pains  to  conceal  from  the  States  that  there  would  be 
war ;  only,  indeed,  against  the  disturbers  of  the  peace  who 
had  been  guilty  of  high  treason.  The  toreign  alliances  of 
the  Protestants  had  been  partly  dissolved  by  the  Emperor, 
as  in  France  and  England ;  were  partly  worthless,  as  in 
Denmark;  and  in  some  cases  any  benefit  had  been  pre- 
vented by  discord  among  themselves,  as  in  Switzerland. 


NEGLIGENCE  OF   THE   LEAGUE.  IQ9 

For  a  long  time  Philip  reckoned  upon  the  husband  of  his 
eldest  daughter,  Agnes,  but  even  that  illusion  at  length 
vanished. 

Thus  as  war  became  inevitable  the  prospects  of  the 
league  grew  darker.  A  league  can  never  compare  in 
fighting  power  with  a  single  state,  and  particularly  when, 
as  in  this  case,  it  was  composed  of  members  of  unequal 
strength.  The  most  powerful  was  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
but  he  was  not  competent  to  command;  the  Landgrave, 
who  was  less  powerful,  would  have  been  competent,  but 
then  a  Landgrave  must  not  command  an  Elector.  In  1532 
Luther  had  said  to  Philip,  who  was  dissatisfied  with  the 
imperfect  peace,  that  an  imperfect  peace  without  bloodshed 
should  always  be  thankfully  accepted.  "  Do  not  deceive 
yourself;  they  are  all  ready  enough  with  brave  speeches 
when  danger  is  distant,  but  when  trouble  comes  it  will  be 
quite  another  thing."  It  was  only  too  probable  that  in 
time  of  danger  the  chaff  would  separate  from  the  wheat 
among  the  Protestant  ranks. 

Still,  the  league  might  have  accomplished  much  more 
than  it  did  accomplish;  it  certainly  could  have  prevented 
the  assembling  of  an  imperial  army  in  Germany,  and  it 
entirely  neglected  to  do  so. 

The  Emperor  was  under  the  restrictions  of  the  election 
bond ;  he  could  not  bring  any  foreign  troops  into  Germany 
without  the  consent  of  the  States.  There  was,  therefore,  a 
legal  pretext  against  him ;  besides,  the  assembling  of  an 
imperial  army  could  have  been  rendered  practically  im- 
possible. There  were  but  two  ways  by  which  the  Emperor 
could  bring  in  his  troops — one  through  the  Netherlands, 
the  other  by  way  of  Italy — and  in  both  it  would  have  been 
very  easy  to  embarrass  him. 

The  entrance  from  Italy  was  the  easiest  to  prevent ; 
nature  had  taken  care  to  make  the  passage  into  Germany 
difficult  by  lofty  mountains  and  narrow  passes.  Had  the 
Protestants  occupied  the  Brenner  and  the  valley  of  the 
Upper  Inn  betimes,  the  imperial  troops  could  not  have 
entered  from  Italy.  If,  for  example,  the  states  and  cities  of 
Upper  Germany — perhaps  even  if  only  Augsburg  and  Ulm 
had  held  together,  they  would  have  been  able  to  occupy 
the  passes.  They  had  money  enough  to  hire  soldiers,  and 
their  general,  Schertlin,  had  repeatedly  written  to  them  : 
"  Give  me  a  little  troop  to  occupy  the  passes  in  the 


200  THE   REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

Lechthal,  and  not  one  imperial  soldier  shall  enter  Ger- 
many." It  was  partly  the  honourable  scruple  against  acting 
on  the  defensive  which  stood  in  the  way,  and  partly  a  dread 
of  the  conflict.  Schertlin  stood  for  months  at  the  entrance 
of  the  Lechthal ;  it  would  have  been  easy  to  have  occupied 
the  Tyrol,  and  to  have  taken  possession  of  the  two  moun- 
tain passes  by  which  the  imperial  troops  must  advance. 
This  done,  all  the  rest  of  the  troops  of  the  league  might 
have  gone  westwards  towards  the  Netherlands,  and  by  a  rapid 
advance  they  might  have  closed  the  entrance  into  the  empire 
at  this  point  also,  and  have  dispersed  the  assembling  troops. 
But  these  splendid  opportunities  of  preventing  the  advance 
of,  or  annihilating,  the  Imperial  troops  were  utterly  neglected. 

The  Emperor,  on  the  contrary,  carried  on  his  manoeuvres 
with  great  dexterity.  His  peaceful  declarations  still  led  the 
Protestants  to  believe  that  it  would  not  come  to  a  war.  In 
1546  he  first  threw  off  the  mask.  With  the  same  skill  with 
which  he  had  lulled  the  Protestants  into  security,  he  now 
set  to  work  to  divide  them.  He  was  never  tired  of  repeat- 
ing that  the  enterprise  was  not  directed  against  the  Pro- 
testant religion — on  the  contrary,  he  was  abiding  by 
all  his  concessions — but  against  a  political  league  which 
formed  an  empire  within  the  empire,  and  which  was  re- 
belling against  the  imperial  authority.  This  distinction, 
and  the  decided  assurance  that  it  was  not  a  question  of 
religion,  gave  the  less  decided  a  pretext  for  joining  the 
Emperor's  side,  or  at  any  rate  for  not  opposing  him.  To 
the  timid  princes,  like  the  Elector  of  the  Palatinate  and  the 
Duke  of  Brandenburg,  it  was  a  welcome  excuse  for  doing 
nothing,  and  it  attached  the  shrewd  and  politic  Maurice  of 
Saxony  entirely  to  the  Emperor's  side. 

With  this  personage  an  entirely  new  element  enters 
into  the  affairs  of  Germany  ;  the  fate  of  German  Pro- 
testantism was  in  great  measure  dependent  on  his  character 
and  policy,  and  we  are  therefore  justified  in  making  closer 
acquaintance  with  him. 

DUKE   MAURICE    OF   SAXONY.*     His    CHARACTER    AND 
POLICY.     THE  LEAGUE  WITH  THE  EMPEROR,  1546. 

Albert  the   Courageous  had  been  followed  by   George 
the  Bearded  in  the  government  of  Meissen,  while  Albert's 
*  Langenu  :  Kurfurst  Moritz  von  Sachsen.    1840. 


MAURICE  OF   SAXONY.  2OI 

younger  son,  Duke  Henry,  was  to  have  the  possessions  in 
Friesland,  but  in  case  he  could  not  defend  them,  the 
towns  and  castles  of  Freiberg  and  Wolkenstein,  and  a 
share  of  the  revenues  of  the  country.  Various  difficulties 
induced  him  to  make  Friesland  over  to  his  brother,  and  to 
content  himself  with  the  other  possessions  and  the  income 
assigned  to  him.  While  George  was  burying  one  after 
another  of  his  children,  Henry  was  living  at  Freiberg, 
taking  little  heed  of  public  affairs  and  enjoying  life,  so  far 
as  his  often  empty  exchequer  permitted — enjoyed  his  glass, 
gave  good  dinners,  and  lived  merrily  enough ;  while  his 
wife,  Catherine  of  Mecklenburg,  was  occupied  with  higher 
things,  and  was  far  superior  to  her  husband  in  energy  and 
firmness. 

Of  this  union  Maurice  was  born  on  the  2ist  of  March, 
1521  ;  only  one,  Augustus,  of  two  younger  sons  grew  up. 
But  little  is  known  of  Maurice's  youth  and  education ;  he 
did  not  receive  a  very  learned  education,  but  his  energetic 
mother  may  have  exercised  great  influence  upon  him.  As 
a  boy  and  youth  he  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  with  Albert 
of  Mayence  and  his  uncle,  Duke  George,  who,  as  his  own 
race  had  died  out,  might  wish  to  secure  an  heir  and  suc- 
cessor. There  was  at  first,  until  about  1538,  a  tolerable 
understanding  between  them,  but  then  an  estrangement 
took  place.  The  Church  question  was  doubtless  the  chief 
cause  of  it.  George  was  a  zealous  adherent  of  the  old 
Church,  and  the  Lutheran  tendencies  of  the  court  at 
Freiberg,  which  were  mainly  dependent  on  the  Duchess, 
must  have  been  hateful  to  him.  Of  course  Maurice  often 
exchanged  the  residence  of  his  uncle  for  that  of  John 
Frederic. 

Thus  the  talented  young  prince  was  for  years  surrounded 
by  contending  influences.  On  the  one  hand,  George, 
having  seen  all  his  sons  die,  fixed  his  eyes  upon  his  clever 
and  aspiring  nephew.  On  the  other,  Maurice's  parents 
and  their  advisers,  among  whom  was  Philip  of  Hesse, 
were  desirous  of  keeping  on  friendly  terms  with  George, 
but  wished  to  keep  Maurice  a  Lutheran.  George,  how- 
ever, was  entertaining  the  idea  of  hazardous  schemes, 
such  as  that  of  making  Austria  his  successor,  to  which  his 
advisers  and  states  did  not  conceal  their  aversion. 

In  the  midst  of  these  contradictory  tendencies,  on  the 
1 7th  of  April,  1539,  Duke  George  died.  Duke  Henry 


202  THE  REFORMATION  IX  GERMANY. 

assumed  the  reins  of  government,  George's  ministers  were 
dismissed,  and  Lutheranism  introduced.  It  was  worthy  of 
remark  that  Maurice  maintained  some  relations  with  the 
fallen  ministers,  thereby  showing  his  independence. 

This  was  still  more  evident  in  another  matter.  Maurice 
married  Agnes,  daughter  of  the  Landgrave  Philip,  against 
his  parents'  will ;  this  gave  rise  to  bitter  and  open  dissen- 
sions, increased  by  the  fact  of  Philip's  double  marriage,  and 
it  was  with  difficulty  that  Maurice  succeeded  in  reconciling 
his  parents  to  it.  But  various  causes  of  irritation  remained, 
and  there  was  growing  discontent  in  the  country  at  the 
weak  Henry's  misrule.  He  died  a  few  days  after  a  stormy 
scene  between  him  and  the  chief  men  in  the  country,  in 
August,  1541. 

Thus  Maurice's  youth  had  been  a  school  of  much  ex- 
perience. The  contests  by  which  he  was  surrounded  from 
the  first,  in  and  around  his  native  country,  had  fostered  his 
self-will  and  tendency  to  selfish  and  independent  action.  The 
insight  which  he  had  gained  into  the  temporal  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal policy  of  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  courts  had  early 
deprived  him  of  illusions,  both  favourable  and  unfavourable, 
about  persons  and  things,  and  when  he  began  to  take  an 
independent  part  in  German  politics  his  judgment  and 
energy  were  far  beyond  his  years. 

The  first  steps  taken  by  the  new  government  indicated 
an  independent  course.  Maurice  summoned  new  ministers 
to  his  councils,  partly  those  by  whom  Duke  George  had 
been  surrounded.  The  Landgrave  Philip  especially  was 
consulted,  and  was  very  ready  to  give  his  advice.  But  it 
must  be  observed  that  he  was  not  on  the  best  terms  with 
the  Elector  John  Frederic,  and  that,  therefore,  an  ap- 
proach to  Hesse  widened  the  distance  from  the  Ernestine 
faction.  It  was  regarded  in  that  light  by  the  Elector  and 
his  ministers,  and  petty  sources  of  irritation  were  not  want- 
ing. This  state  of  things  was  not  improved  when  Maurice 
gave  up  his  father's  very  cool  relations  with  the  League  of 
Schmalkald,  and  proclaimed  in  1542  that  he  and  his 
country  would  be  faithful  to  the  Protestant  doctrines,  and 
would  render  aid  if  the  Protestants  were  in  danger,  but  that 
he  would  not  belong  to  the  league. 

The  discord  with  the  Elector  John  Frederic  increased  so 
much,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  Philip  prevented  open 
war.  Melancthon  afterwards  said  that  it  was  now  that 


MAURICE  OF  SAXONY.  203 

the  seeds  of  the  discord  were  sown  which  sprung  up 
into  the  great  tragedy  the  close  of  which  we  have  not  yet 
seen. 

In  proportion  as  Maurice  became  estranged  from  the 
league,  the  imperial  party  endeavoured  to  enter  into 
closer  relations  with  him  and  his  ministers,  particularly 
with  George,  and  Christopher  von  Carlowitz  laboured  in  the 
same  direction.  He  himself  was  brought  over  by  his 
relations  with  the  Ernestine  party  ;  his  affection  for  Pro- 
testantism and  connection  with  Philip  were  at  any  rate  no 
obstacle. 

During  the  negotiations  which  now  took  place  at  the 
Emperor's  instigation,  the  character  of  his  policy,  which  was 
a  novel  one  among  the  Protestant  princes,  was  brought  to 
light.  Maurice  affected  concern  about  John  Frederic's 
projects  respecting  Magdeburg  and  Halberstadt ;  he  there- 
fore desired  that  the  Emperor  would  place  the  bishoprics 
under  his  protection.  "  The  bishops  and  canons  should 
accept  him  as  a  guardian  appointed  by  the  Emperor." 
The  expense  was  to  be  borne  by  the  bishoprics,  which 
were  therefore  to  be  mortgaged  to  him.  He  spoke  still 
more  plainly  about  Meissen  and  Merseburg;  Carlowitz 
was  to  endeavour  "  to  induce  the  Emperor  to  assign 
both  bishoprics  to  the  Duke  as  a  hereditary  possession." 
He  had  introduced  reform  because  the  country  wished 
it ;  even  Duke  George,  with  all  his  zeal,  had  not  been 
able  permanently  to  prevent  it.  It  was  just  the  same 
at  Meissen  and  Merseburg  ;  the  bishops  could  not 
restrain  the  people.  He  would  have  preferred  it  if  the 
two  bishops  had  carried  out  reforms  according  to  the 
divine  word,  and  rightly  exercised  their  episcopal  office  ; 
but  it  had  not  been  so,  and  therefore  it  was  needful  to 
avert  that  any  disaster  should  happen  which  Maurice  as 
their  guardian  might  prevent. 

At  Nuremberg  lively  intercourse  was  kept  up  between 
Christopher  von  Carlowitz  and  Granvella.  Granvella  spoke 
of  the  high  opinion  entertained  of  Maurice  by  the  Emperor, 
and  prophesied  a  brilliant  future  for  him  :  "  The  Emperor 
entertained  great  hopes  of  Maurice,  and  was  very  graciously 
disposed  towards  him."  His  vanity  was  flattered  ;  the  part 
he  had  taken  in  the  Turkish  war  praised ;  his  aid  was 
courted  in  the  war  with  France. 

Granvella,  wrote  Carlowitz,  was  particularly  desirous  to 


204  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

introduce  the  Duke  to  the  Emperor's  acquaintance,  that  the 
Protestants  might  see  that  the  Emperor  was  as  favourable 
to  them  as  to  the  others.  Overtures  were  also  made  to  the 
Landgrave,  but  he  did  not  like  it.  He  wanted  to  see 
clearly.  "  It  is  our  custom  in  these  things  to  know  for 
certain,  not  to  imagine."  He  did  not  altogether  trust  them ; 
he  thought  they  were  going  to  throw  him  a  bone  in  the 
shape  of  a  bishopric  for  his  brother,  Duke  Augustus,  who 
spent  his  whole  time  at  Ferdinand's  court. 

It  was  only  by  means  of  theologians  and  not  by 
counsellors  that  Maurice  was  represented  at  the  convention 
which  the  League  of  Schmalkald  held  at  Frankfort ;  he  was 
willing  to  share  their  creed,  but  not  their  policy,  and  there- 
fore declined  to  take  any  part.  Late  in  the  year  1543  he 
set  out  to  join  the  Emperor's  army,  which  indeed  only 
undertook  the  fruitless  siege  of  Landrecies. 

Meanwhile,  in  1544  the  diplomatic  game  of  lulling  the 
Protestants  to  sleep  was  successfully  played,  and  their  help 
secured  for  the  war,  so  that  the  campaign  could  be  carried 
on  with  greater  activity.  On  this  occasion  Maurice  had  an 
opportunity  at  Vitry  of  displaying  his  prowess  and  his  skill 
as  a  commander.  The  peace  of  Crespy  only  hastened  the 
catastrophe.  But  amidst  these  complications  Maurice 
found  leisure  to  pursue  his  schemes  about  the  bishoprics ; 
and  as  the  bishopric  of  Merseburg  fell  vacant  by  death,  to 
accomplish  the  election  of  his  brother  as  administrator. 
Military  precautions  were  also  taken  :  Pirna,  Dresden,  and 
Leipzig  were  made  more  secure. 

His  political  attitude,  which  was  independent,  but  some- 
what ambiguous,  was  clearly  brought  to  light  in  the  feud  in 
Brunswick  in  1545.  He  was  bound  by  an  inherited  treaty  to 
help  his  father-in-law,  Philip,  and  he  fulfilled  the  duty, 
though  not  over  willingly ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  main- 
tained an  understanding  with  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  and 
his  friends,  was  the  medium  of  proposals  of  reconciliation, 
which  he  carried  on  without  success  until  war  broke  out 
and  the  Duke  was  taken  prisoner.  It  was  characteristic 
that  the  league  was  not  pleased  with,  and  the  Emperor  was 
suspicious  of  him. 

Meanwhile,  everything  tended  towards  a  decision  :  the 
Emperor  was  at  liberty,  he  had  concluded  peace  with 
France  and  a  truce  with  the  Turks,  and  come  to  an  under- 
standing with  the  Pope;  and  the  negotiations  of  1545-6 


MAURICE  OF  SAXONY.  205 

show  how  great  the  difficulty  was  of  coming  to  any  peaceful 
agreement.  It  was  necessary  for  Maurice  also  to  come  to 
a  decision.  Landgrave  Philip  proposed  to  support  the 
Protestant  cause  by  a  closer  understanding  between  Hesse 
and  the  two  Saxonys.  Maurice  made  counter-propositions, 
which  referred  to  doctrines.  The  Elector  John  Frederic 
would  have  it  that  the  saying,  "Ein  Meissner,  ein  Gleissner," 
— a  Meissner,  a  double  dealer — was  applicable  to  Maurice  and 
his  minister  Carlowitz,  and  Philip  said  that  "  he  wanted 
peace  and  quiet,  and  was  ready  to  give  way  in  things  in 
which  a  man  could  give  way  ;  but  really  religion  could  not 
be  treated  as  we  treat  our  worldly  affairs,  our  property, 
estates,  fields,  meadows,  &c.,  about  which,  if  any  one  say, 
'  Let  me  have  this,'  we  may  say,  '  Thou  mayest  have  it.'  " 

Maurice  did  not  comprehend  that  sort  of  thing.  If  he 
was  ever  sincere,  it  was  when  he  told  the  Emperor  that  the 
Reformation  was  no  fault  of  his ;  that  it  had  been  forced 
upon  the  rulers  by  the  people,  and  they  could  not  prevent 
it  if  they  would.  He  had  gone  with  the  stream ;  he  had 
never  experienced  any  deep  religious  convictions ;  policy 
induced  him  to  adhere  to  the  new  faith,  for  in  the  first  place 
it  could  not  be  reversed,  and  in  the  next,  it  gave  his  new 
government  a  strong  support  against  the  Emperor. 

His  latest  biographer  calls  him  a  disciple  of  Erasmus  : 
and  he  might  have  added,  of  the  new  Spanish  Burgundian 
school  of  statesmen,  of  which  the  Emperor  himself  was 
master.  Like  the  Emperor,  he  looked  at  the  affairs  of  the 
Church  solely  from  a  political  point  of  view,  and  regarded 
the  great  complications  which  were  at  hand  as  an  excellent 
opportunity  of  making  his  fortune  as  an  ambitious  secular 
prince.  His  little  duchy  was  too  small  for  his  lofty 
schemes,  and  at  the  Emperor's  side  there  was  a  sure 
prospect  of  richer  booty.  A  somewhat  frivolous  exterior 
concealed  far-seeing  political  views  and  great  shrewd- 
ness; the  light  and  chivalrous  features  of  his  character 
were  calculated  rather  to  conceal  his  earnestness  than  to 
give  rise  to  the  idea  that  he  had  none.  Undoubtedly,  the 
new  generation  of  German  princes  and  politicians,  of  whom 
he  was  the  first,  was  headed  by  a  by  no  means  common- 
place individual. 

During  the  first  few  months  of  1546,  when  everything  was 
tending  to  an  open  conflict,  Maurice's  commissioner, 
Carlowitz,  scarcely  ever  left  the  imperial  ministers,  and 


206  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

when  he  occasionally  did  so,  always  returned  to  them 
again,  even  when  he  could  not  do  so  without  exciting  atten- 
tion ;  as,  for  instance,  when  he  attended  the  conference  of 
the  League  of  Schmalkald  at  Frankfort,  and  after  informing 
himself  of  the  course  things  were  taking,  returned  straight  to 
the  imperial  court. 

In  March,  1546,  he  was  at  Maestricht.  During  the  nego- 
tiations there,  Granvella  observed  that  ever  since  he  had 
recognised  the  Duke,  the  Emperor  had  been  graciously 
pleased  to  place  great  confidence  in  him,  and  to  entertain 
the  hope  that  he  would  accomplish  much  good  in  the  cause 
of  religion  and  other  things,  and  would  serve  as  a  good 
mediator  or  commissioner;  the  Emperor  therefore  would 
have  the  more  pleasure  in  helping  him  in  his  position  in 
the  council  of  the  empire.  It  was  a  question  of  votes,  and, 
so  far  as  it  lay  with  the  Emperor,  Maurice  should  be  placed 
higher  up  rather  than  lower  down.  Other  friendly  things 
were  said,  and  Carlowitz  took  care  to  foster  the  good 
feeling,  and  to  bring  about  a  still  closer  understanding. 
He  succeeded  so  well,  that  the  Emperor  wrote  a  gracious 
letter  to  Maurice,  assuring  him  of  his  continued  hearty 
good  will,  and  giving  him  a  pressing  invitation  to  come  to 
Ratisbon. 

From  the  end  of  April  Carlowitz  was  at  Ratisbon.  His 
official  commission  related  to  the  Saxon  bishoprics,  parti- 
cularly Magdeburg  and  Halberstadt ;  but  his  real  business 
was  the  negotiation  of  a  league  between  the  Emperor  and 
the  Duke.  Of  the  three  paths  which  were  open  to  Maurice 
— to  join  the  League  of  Schmalkald,  to  enter  into  a  league 
with  the  Emperor,  or  to  do  neither — he  could  have  had  no 
doubt  which  to  take.  Ever  since  May,  Carlowitz  had  been 
negotiating  with  Granvella  about  "a  special  agreement." 
Granvella  assured  him  that  "  there  was  no  prince  towards 
whom  the  Emperor  entertained  so  friendly  a  feeling,  or  in 
whom  he  placed  so  much  confidence ;  "  he  was  quite  ready 
to  enter  into  a  special  agreement,  only  the  Duke  must 
come  himself. 

It  appears  that  the  question  of  religion  was  soon  settled, 
and  Granvella  set  aside  the  difficulty  about  Electoral 
Saxony  with  the  remark  that  "marked  prosperity  would 
result  to  the  countries  and  people  from  the  special  league, 
and  Maurice  need  not  then  be  afraid  of  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  nor  of  any  of  his  other  neighbours."  But  he  must 


MAURICE  OF   SAXONY.  207 

go  ;  he  would  find  not  only  a  gracious  Emperor,  but  a  father 
and  friend,  in  Charles. 

Just  at  the  same  time  the  Landgrave  Philip  was  trying,  at 
a  conference  at  Naumburg,  to  induce  the  Elector  and  the 
Duke  to  be  reconciled  to  each  other,  and  to  make  amends 
for  their  faults. 

Naumburg  or  Ratisbon,  then  ? — this  was  the  question. 

Maurice  did  not  entirely  confide  in  the  imperial  diplo 
macy ;  still,  in  June  he_\vent  to  Ratisbon,  the  negotiations 
were  begun  at  once,  and  by  the  igth  they  were  concluded. 
The  Duke's  wishes  concerning  Magdeburg  and  Halberstadt 
were  acceded  to  :  the  Emperor  appointed  him  conservator, 
executor,  and  guardian  of  the  bishoprics.  The  real  objects 
in  view  were  only  vaguely  stated  in  the  treaty  concluded  on 
the  same  day ;  but  Maurice  promised  friendship  and  assist- 
ance, contributions  to  the  exchequer,  and  submission  to  the 
'council,  so  far  as  the  other  princes  were  subject  to  it.  In 
religious  matters  no  further  innovations  were  to  take  place 
in  his  country,  all  further  reforms  were  to  be  referred  to  a 
council,  and  in  return  the  Emperor  and  Ferdinand  pro- 
mised assistance  to  the  Duke. 

On  the  2oth  of  June  a  conference  took  place  between 
the  three  princes,  in  presence  of  their  ministers.  "  The 
guilty,"  it  was  said,  "  would  be  punished  ;  the  Emperor  had 
not  yet  decided  what  he  should  do;  the  price  of  corn 
would  be  learnt  at  market.  If  it  should  come  to  that, 
Maurice  would  not  have  far  to  go  to  the  Emperor ;  the 
mandates  would  give  notice  of  the  Emperor's  intentions. 
If  an  interdict,  or  anything  of  the  kind,  should  be  pro- 
claimed, every  man  must  look  to  himself;  those  who  catch 
it  will  find  it  no  joke."  As  to  the  religious  question,  it  was 
once  more  repeated,  that  in  case  it  was  not  entirely  adjusted, 
and  some  points  remained  still  unsettled,  neither  Maurice 
nor  his  subjects  should  be  compromised,  and  they  need  be 
under  no  anxiety  till  a  settlement  took  place.  Further 
than  this  Maurice  was  not  initiated.  There  was  something 
purposely  mysterious  in  the  whole  speech,  and  it  was  not 
calculated  to  inspire  confidence.  It  revealed  enough  to 
make  him  stand  by  the  Emperor,  but  not  to  set  him  at  ease 
is  to  the  consequences. 

Their  relations  to  each  other  are  obvious.  If  Maurice 
had  no  affection  for  Protestantism,  neither  had  he  any  for 
the  Emperor ;  the  new  doctrine  was  to  him  a  means  to  an 


208  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

end,  and  so  was  his  relation  to  the  Emperor.  There  is  not 
a  trace  in  him  of  that  warm  and  chivalrous  attachment 
which  the  older  generation,  and  even  the  Protestant  princes, 
felt  towards  the  head  of  the  German  nation.  The  modern 
race  of  politicians  who  had  outgrown  all  the  mediaeval  tra- 
ditions of  the  empire,  whose  last  offshoots  were  some  of 
the  adventurers  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  begins  with  the 
striking  figure  of  Maurice. 

Charles,  with  this  mixture  of  confiding  openness  and 
mysterious  reserve,  behaved  like  the  master  of  his  hopeful 
pupil.  One  can  imagine  how  he  looked  into  the  soul  of 
the  young  prince  with  a  certain  fatherly  pride.  Here  was  a 
man  after  his  own  heart,  who  hated  theological  squabbles 
and  the  fanaticism  of  little  minds — who,  like  himself,  cared 
for  nothing  but  the  moving  springs  of  substantial  power  and 
obvious  political  calculations.  It  was,  however,  a  singular 
mistake  to  suppose  that  devotion  and  trust  could  grow  up 
in  such  a  soul.  He  knew  nothing  of  these  things  himself, 
except  where  some  advantage  was  to  be  derived  from  them, 
and  he  should  not  have  expected  in  the  pupil  what  was 
wanting  in  the  master.  The  honourable  race  of  German 
princes  of  the  old  school,  like  John,  Philip,  and  John  Frederic, 
who,  when  their  consciences  were  not  concerned,  were 
heartily  devoted  to  the  Emperor,  was  dying  out ;  the  men 
who  were  in  earnest  about  their  faith,  and  who  in  the  sharp 
struggle  of  conflicting  duties  only  refused  with  heavy  hearts 
the  allegiance  they  had  never  refused  against  the  Turks  or 
the  French,  were  indeed  a  different  race  from  those  who 
came  after  them  ;  for  them,  they  themselves  were  the  centre 
of  the  empire,  and  by  German  liberty  they  understood  the 
aggrandisement  of  their  own  power,  and  the  absolute  des- 
potism of  rulers  both  great  and  small.  We  must  bring  out 
this  contrast,  for  party  spirit  in  its  blindness  has  confounded 
the  former  princes  with  those  who  made  merely  a  policy  of 
religion. 

The  Emperor's  tactics  were  very  favourable  to  the  plans 
of  a  character  like  Maurice.  He  did  not  himself  consider 
that  it  would  be  possible  for  Maurice  openly  to  take  part 
against  Lutheranism,  and  he  afterwards  had  good  reason  to 
know  the  tnith  of  this.  But  when  he  said  that  it  was  not  a 
religious  but  a  political  question,  it  gave  a  different  colour 
to  it,  and  Maurice  was  inclined  to  take  but  little  part, 
like  men  without  character,  who  remain  neutral  and  choose 


THE   SCHMALKALD   WAR.  2OQ 

their  party  after  the  issue  of  the  struggle.  He  knew  the 
weakness  of  and  dissensions  in  the  league ;  he  knew  that 
if  he  decisively  joined  the  Emperor's  cause,  he  was  secure 
of  his  spoils,  and  took  up  his  position  accordingly. 

THE  WAR*  FROM  THE  SUMMER  OF  1546  TILL  THE  SPRING 
OF  1547. — PITIFUL  WARFARE  OF  THE  ALLIES  ON  THE 
DANUBE. — MAURICE  INVADES  ELECTORAL  SAXONY. — 
BATTLE  OF  MUHLBERG,  24™  APRIL,  1547. 

If  we  compare  the  firmness  of  purpose  which  was  dis- 
played by  the  imperial  party  in  preparing  for  the  contest 
with  the  divisions  in  the  Schmalkald  camp,  we  cannot  fail 
to  fear  for  the  cause  which  was  attacked  by  so  mighty  a 
force  and  so  inefficiently  defended ;  and  yet  the  Emperor's 
position  was  by  no  means  a  secure  one.  His  only  ally  in 
Germany  was  an  ambitious  prince,  who  was  probably  already 
calculating  how  he  should  settle  accounts  with  the  Emperor 
after  the  victory;  then  he  was  reckoning  on  France,  whom  he 
had  laid  under  obligations  by  his  magnanimity,  but  who  was 
not  any  the  more  trustworthy  on  that  account ;  upon  Rome, 
where  the  wind  was  always  shifting,  and  upon  his  Spanish 
troops,  who  certainly  were  curious  weapons  wherewith  to 
re-constitute  the  unity  of  the  German  empire  and  the  German 
Church.  He  was  declaring  war  against  a  nation  about  a 
cause  which  had  stirred  it  to  its  very  depths,  as  no  universal 
impulse  had  ever  stirred  it  before,  and  his  allies  were  Spain, 
France,  Rome,  and  Duke  Maurice.  However  skilfully  the 
beginning  had  been  managed,  the  whole  scheme  was  a  game 
of  chance — the  first  that  the  Emperor  hazarded,  and  he  was 
not  successful  in  it. 

The  war  was  preceded  by  a  song  of  triumph  at  Rome, 
that  heresy  would  soon  be  put  down  ;  but  that  was  a  most 
unwelcome  revelation  of  the  Emperor's  tactics.  He  and  his 
friend  Maurice  were  saying  that  it  was  not  a  religious  war, 
and  here  was  Rome,  before  a  blow  had  been  struck,  re- 
joicing that  the  miscreants  would  be  punished. 

On  the  2oth  of  July,  the  Emperor  sent  the  ban  against 
the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany  as  a  declaration  of  war, 

*  Avila  y  Zuniga,  Geschichte  des  Schmalkald.  Krieges.  Uebers. 
Berlin,  1853.  Herberger,  Schertlins  Briefe.  Augsb.,  1852.  Schoii- 
huth,  Schertlin  von  Burtcnbach  Leben  und  Thaten  vou  ihm  selbs.1 
beschrieben.  Miinster,  1858. 

P 


210  T1IE   REFORMATION   IN  GERMANY. 

•while  his  troops  were  advancing  from  Italy  and  the  Nether- 
lands. They  found  no  obstacle  either  on  the  Rhine  or  on 
the  Tyrol. 

The  forces  which  the  league  assembled  at  Donauworth 
after  the  Saxon  and  Hessian  troops  had  been  joined  by  the 
South  German  contingents,  were  reckoned  at  47,000  men  ; 
but  they  neglected  to  attack  the  Emperor,  who  was  then 
weak,  were  unable  to  come  to  any  decisive  resolution  before 
Ingolstadt,  allowed  the  Emperor  time  to  assemble  his 
troops,  wasted  their  strength  in  fruitless  skirmishes,  and 
their  time  in  camp  near  Giengen,  till  money  ran  short,  the 
soldiers  grew  discontented,  and  some  divisions  began  to 
move  off.  The  Landgrave  Philip  exerted  himself  to  ex- 
plain the  situation  and  the  project  to  the  Elector  John 
Frederic  ;  but  in  vain — he  could  not  even  effect  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  notorious  challenge  of  Ingolstadt  of  2nd 
September,  "  to  Charles,  King  of  Spain,  who  calls  himself 
the  fifth  Roman  Emperor." 

The  passes  in  the  Tyrol  had  been  occupied  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer  by  Schertlin,  but  again  by  an  unac- 
countable order  vacated  ;  and,  while  the  Schmalkald  party 
were  entrenching  themselves  at  Giengen,  Alba  led  the  first 
onslaught  on  the  imperial  cities  of  Ulm  and  Augsburg,  which 
were  least  in  a  position  to  resist.  In  their  rear  were 
Wiirtemberg  and  the  Palatinate,  very  doubtful  allies.  As 
the  imperial  cities  were  unprotected,  the  conquest  of 
Wiirtemberg  and  the  Palatinate  was  decided  on ;  Southern 
Germany  was  at  the  feet  of  the  Emperor  and  his  Spaniards. 
The  restoration  began  at  Cologne  and  Strasburg.  Mean- 
while, what  between  lack  of  money,  desertion,  and  sickness, 
the  camp  at  Giengen  was  melting  away.  When  the  news 
came  that  Duke  Maurice  had  invaded  the  territory  of  the 
Elector  John  Frederic,  all  hope  was  at  an  end.  By  the  end 
of  November,  the  party  of  the  league  had  evacuated  the 
seat  of  war  in  South  Germany ;  not  that  they  were  van- 
quished on  the  battle-field,  for  the  Emperor  had  not  hazarded 
any  decisive  engagement,  but  politically  they  were  entirely 
beaten. 

On  the  ist  of  August,  Duke  Maurice  had  been  entrusted 
by  Charles  with  the  execution  of  the  interdict  on  his 
Schmalkald  neighbour,  but  the  cautious  prince  was  in  no 
hurry,  less  because  he  hoped  anything  from  negotiation  with 
the  princes  of  the  league,  than  because,  like  his  cousin  the 


THE   SCHMALKALD  WAR.  2  I  I 

Duchess  Elizabeth,  he  was  of  opinion  that  "  the  house  of 
Austria  has  sharp  eyes  and  a  large  rnouth,  and  wants  to  de- 
vour whatever  it  sees."  While  the  Emperor  was  continually 
urging  him  on,  Carlovvitz  advised  his  master  to  take  no  steps 
until  he  saw  to  whom  God  would  give  the  victory,  or  at  any 
rate  until  King  Ferdinand,  who  was  also  commissioned  to 
carry  out  the  sentence,  should  attack  the  interdicted  coun- 
tries. The  most  that  he  could  advise  was,  that  he  should 
take  possession  of  the  mountain  cities  and  the  fiefs  of  the 
crown  of  Bohemia,  but  in  such  a  manner,  that  in  case  events 
should  take  a  turn,  the  Duke  might  represent  that  he  had  done 
it  to  avert  any  hostile  attack,  and  for  the  good  of  the  Elector 
and  his  siibjects. 

Still,  it  would  not  do  to  excite  the  suspicions  of  the 
Emperor  and  his  brother,  and  the  longer  it  remained  unde- 
cided "  to  whom  God  would  give  the  victory,"  the  more 
difficult  it  became  to  temporise.  In  this  embarrassment 
the  Duke  entered  into  direct  negotiations  with  Ferdinand, 
while  he  was  still  carrying  them  on  with  the  princes  of  the 
league.  He  was  still  telling  the  Duchess  Elizabeth  that 
when  the  temporal  affairs  were  settled,  if  the  Emperor  per- 
sisted in  his  severity,  "  he  would  give  an  opportunity  01 
conferring,  and  himself  give  notice  of  what  it  would  become 
him  to  do."  Even  in  his  own  country  suspicion  was  ex- 
cited that  religion  would  at  last  be  endangered.  Even  from 
Bohemia  it  was  reported  that  if  John  Frederic  came,  the 
cities  would  open  their  gates  to  him.  It  is  certain  that  they 
were  reluctant  to  march  against  Saxony.  The  Utraquists 
saw  that  they  were  involved  in  the  dangers  that  threatened 
Lutheranism.  These  doubts  explained  the  tentatives  put 
forth  on  every  side,  the  leaning  on  Brandenburg,  the  corre- 
spondence with  Pomerania  and  Poland.  They  also  make 
the  discontinuance  of  negotiations  with  Ferdinand  intelli 
gible.  In  October  they  were  resumed ;  Maurice  himself 
went  to  Prague,  took  counsel  with  the  States,  which  had 
been  repeatedly  convened,  and  on  the  nth  of  October 
once  more  assured  the  princes  of  the  league  that  it  was  not 
a  question  ot  religion  :  "  he  did  not  want  the  territories,  he 
was  only  seeking  their  honour  and  prosperity ;  he  had  not 
been  sitting  idle  hitherto,  but  he  could  not  permit  Saxony 
to  come  into  foreign  hands."  Three  days  afterwards  he 
entered  into  an  agreement  with  Ferdinand  at  Prague. 

Maurice  had  irustrated  the  design  of  the  Hapsburgs  at 


212  THE  REFORMATION  IX  GERMANY. 

once  to  divide  the  territory  of  the  interdicted  prince.  For 
the  rest,  Ferdinand  was  to  take  possession  of  the  districts 
held  by  the  Elector  as  fiefs  of  the  crown  of  Bohemia ; 
Maurice  was  to  occupy  all  that  were  fiefs  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire,  or  ecclesiastical  fiefs.  Six  days  after 
Ferdinand  had  reached  the  frontier,  the  Duke  was  to  begin 
his  attack.  Ferdinand  promised  the  subjects  who  came 
under  his  rule  that  they  should  not  be  compelled  to  re- 
nounce their  religion.  On  the  2yth  of  October  the  dignity 
of  Elector  was  transferred  to  Maurice  of  Saxony  from  the 
imperial  camp  at  Nordheim. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  Maurice  could  now  expect  from 
making  proposals  to  the  league ;  that  he  considered  it 
necessary  to  put  forth  a  justification  of  his  policy  is  more 
intelligible.  Carlowitz  was  right  in  urging  the  vacillating 
prince  to  take  one  side  or  the  other.  Distrust  of  him  did 
not  vanish  from  the  imperial  camp,  especially  as  he  delayed 
to  assume  the  title  of  Elector.  Meanwhile,  Saxony  was 
quickly  occupied. 

John  Frederic's  plain  speaking  contributed  not  a  little  to 
effect  that  this  dubious  state  of  things  should  assume  a  more 
decided  character.  He  left  the  South  German  camp  to  de- 
fend his  country  against  this  disturber  of  the  peace.  His 
manifesto  spoke  of  treacherous  Judas  money  by  which  the 
invasion  had  been  effected  :  it  was  by  these  means  that  "  the 
beastly,  tyrannical,  unchristian  Turkish  hussars  "  had  been 
brought  into  the  country  ;  he  threatened  vengeance,  and 
that  he  would  "  pay  him  with  his  own  coin." 

John  Frederic  proceeded  from  Eisenach  to  Halle  and 
Leipzig,  which,  together  with  Dresden,  was  the  centre  of  the 
Albertine  territory.  Maurice  had  taken  precautionary 
measures,  and  encouraged  the  troops  and  inhabitants ;  still 
he  was  not  without  anxiety  when,  on  the  Qth  of  June,  1547, 
the  Elector  arrived,  less  perhaps  on  account  of  his  army, 
than  because  of  the  doubtful  sentiments  of  the  people.  Of 
course  many  of  them  joined  the  Elector ;  they  saw  in 
Maurice  the  enemy  of  the  faith,  in  Carlowitz  "  the  old 
Papist."  This  occasioned  Maurice  to  appeal  for  help  to 
Ferdinand,  to  Brandenburg,  and  to  Albert  of  Culmbach.  In 
the  imperial  camp  the  danger  was  underrated,  because  the 
popular  excitement  was  not  taken  into  account. 

In  the  conduct  of  the  war,  Maurice  as  usual  showed  him- 
self superior  to  his  adversary ;  in  spite  of  his  difficulties,  he 


THE   SCHMALKALD   WAR.  213 

displayed  great  energy,  insight,  and  coolness,  while  John 
Frederic  proceeded  without  any  plan,  at  the  end  of 
January  had  to  raise  the  siege  of  Leipzig,  and  lost  time 
until  the  enemy  received  his  first  reinforcements.  Still,  for 
some  time  it  looked  as  if  he  was  suffering  the  confusion  in 
the  country  to  increase  until  a  general  rising  should  compel 
Maurice  to  withdraw.  The  excitement  was  so  great  in 
Saxony  and  Bohemia  that  it  foreboded  evil,  and  if  Maurice 
was  not  to  be  vanquished,  it  would  not  do  for  the  Hapsburgs 
to  delay  much  longer. 

The  Emperor  therefore  appeared  at  Eger,  arid  on  the 
nth  of  April  Maurice  crossed  the  Saxon  frontier  with  the 
Spaniards,  the  vanguard  of  the  imperial  army.  John  Fre- 
deric turned  towards  Dresden.  The  Emperor  led  a  splendid 
army  by  way  of  Adorf,  Plauen,  and  Reichenbach,  to  Weida 
and  the  neighbourhood.  The  united  armies  then  proceeded 
by  way  of  Jerisau,  Geithain,  Kolditz,  Leisnig,  and  Lom- 
matzsch  to  the  Elbe.  John  Frederic,  who  had  retired  from 
Dresden  to  Meissen,  allowed  the  bridge  over  the  Elbe  to  be 
broken  down,  and  went  to  Miihlberg. 

On  the  24th  of  April  he  was  attending  service,  when 
cavalry  appeared  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  He  had 
only  ten  companies  of  soldiers  and  seven  squadrons  of 
cavalry  ;  the  favourable  moment  had  been  lost.  When  the 
Emperor  learnt  that  the  Elector  was  at  Miihlberg,  he  ordered 
balls  to  be  thrown  into  it,  and  the  Elector  resolved  to 
retreat  to  Wittenberg.  Maurice  then  offered  to  pursue  the 
enemy  by  a  ford  over  the  Elbe.  He  did  so,  the  imperial 
army  followed,  and  thus  gained  an  easy  victory  over  the 
weak  and  surprised  adversary.  This  was  on  the  24th  of 
April,  1547. 

The  Emperor  received  the  prisoner  with  harshness  and 
severity.  "  Am  I  the  gracious  Emperor  now  ?"  he  said  to 
him.  And  the  request  that  his  prison  might  be  in  accordance 
with  his  princely  rank  was  answered  with,  "I  will  keep 
you  as  you  deserve  ;  begone  !  " 

On  the  igth  of  May  followed  the  capitulation  at  Witten- 
berg. By  this  John  Frederic  renounced  all  right  to  the 
electorate,  engaged  to  give  up  the  fortresses  of  Wittenberg 
and  Gotha,  to  surrender  himself  to  the  Emperor,  to  acknow- 
ledge the  Imperial  Chamber,  and  the  future  decrees  of  the 
Emperor  and  the  States.  Maurice  and  Ferdinand  received 
his  "  confiscated  "  property.  Maurice  engaged  to  allow  his 


214  THE   REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

children  fifty  thousand  florins  a  year,  for  which  several  places 
and  offices  were  allotted  to  them.  Of  these  the  principal 
were  Gotha,  Weimar,  and  the  territory  of  Saalfeld;  Eisenach, 
also,  and  the  Wartburg  remained  in  possession  of  the  Er- 
nestine family.  John  Frederic's  brother,  John  Ernest, 
received  Coburg.  The  fiefs  of  the  crown  of  Bohemia  were 
reserved  for  Ferdinand.  John  Frederic  gave  up  Magdeburg 
and  Halberstadt. 

Four  weeks  later,  the  blow  was  struck  at  Philip  of  Hesse. 
Being  unable  to  stand  against  the  Emperor  alone,  he  resolved 
for  the  first  time  to  try  his  fortune  at  diplomacy;  and  he 
met  with  very  ill  success.  It  is  clear  that  we  have  not  full 
information  about  the  course  of  the  negotiations.  The  well- 
known  story  that  he  was  promised  that  he  should  not  be 
imprisoned,  which  was  afterwards  said  to  have  been  that  he 
should  not  be  permanently  imprisoned — "  nicht  einiges 
Gefangnis,"  or  "nicht  ewiges  Gefangniss" — is  not  proven, 
but  it  is  clear  that  he  was  grossly  deceived. 

The  first  conditions  imposed  upon  him  by  Ferdinand  and 
Maurice  were  lenient  enough.  But  it  soon  appeared  that 
the  Emperor  required  him  to  surrender  at  discretion,  though 
assurances  were  given  him  which  precluded  any  idea  of 
lasting  imprisonment ;  as,  for  instance,  the  promise  in 
writing,  that  "  he  should  suffer  neither  in  person  nor  pro- 
perty, nor  be  punished  with  imprisonment  nor  diminution 
of  territory."* 

The  Landgrave,  therefore,  prostrated  himself  before  the 
Emperor;  and  when  he  was  about  to  retire,  he  was  arrested 
and  thrown  into  prison.  Such  things  are  done  by  subor- 
dinates, who  can  afterwards  be  disowned ;  and  such  was 
the  case  in  this  instance. 

*  Rommel,  Geschichte  von  Hesse. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Interim  nnd  Restoration,  1548. — The  Council  of  Trent  from  I3th  of 
December,  1545,  and  the  Diet  of  Augsburg  from  September,  1547. 

INTERIM  AND  RESTORATION,  1548. 

HPHUS  the  Emperor  was  speedily  victorious  in  Germany. 
J-  The  league  had  suffered  a  humiliating  defeat.  The  Pro- 
testant princes  were  divided :  one  eminent  prince  of  this  party 
had  openly  become  his  ally ;  the  Palatinate  and  Wiirtemberg 
had  come  to  terms  ;  only  Philip  and  John  Frederic  re- 
mained, and  they  were  both  in  his  hands.  He  was  master 
in  Germany,  as  no  imperial  ruler  had  been  for  a  long  time. 
He  had  his  weapons  in  his  hands,  and  no  others  were  lifted 
up  against  him.  Germany  was  occupied  to  the  Elbe,  and 
in  all  the  south  and  west  seemed  only  to  be  awaiting  his 
nod  as  to  the  decision  of  the  Church  question.  The 
Emperor's-  schemes  now  began  to  be  unveiled,  and  the 
illusion  soon  vanished  that  he  had  been  merely  fighting 
against  political  rebels,  and  to  enforce  his  political 
authority. 

The  Emperor  had  a  confession  of  faith  drawn  up — the 
Interim  of  Augsburg,  of  1548 — which  was  to  be  a  combi- 
nation of  the  old  and  new  faith,  and  to  unite  Protestants 
and  Catholics.  This  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  victor  of 
Miihlberg  indicates  the  extraordinary  ignorance  of  the 
great  diplomatist,  with  all  his  knowledge  of  men,  of  the 
religious  question  of  the  age. 

Protestantism  had  been  developed  in  Germany  quite 
independently,  without  the  aid — indeed,  in  opposition  to 
the  ruling  powers.  It  was  the  act  of  the  nation's  conscience. 
The  eminent  theologians,  thinkers,  and  learned  men  whom 
it  had  produced,  arose  from  an  inward  impulse,  and  not  iu 
compliance  with  any  command  from  above.  Parties  and 


216  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

differences  of  opinion  had  also  arisen  independently.  How 
Luther  had  striven  to  solve  some  particular  question,  and 
how  much  labour  was  afterwards  fruitlessly  spent  in  trying 
to  reconcile  other  phases  of  Protestant  thought  with  his 
doctrines  !  All  this  had  been  done  without  any  external 
authority,  and  it  could  not  therefore  be  overturned  by  any 
imperial  decree.  These  are  not  questions  which  can  be 
settled  around  the  green  table,  or  in  the  cabinets  of  diplo- 
matists ;  they  are  vital  problems  of  the  gravest  kind.  And 
now  came  the  Emperor,  a  stranger  to  all  that  was  agitating 
Germany,  who  had  never  comprehended  more  than  the  out- 
ward aspects  of  the  struggle — to  whom  the  Catholic  faith 
was  only  something  that  he  had  been  taught,  and  the  Pro- 
testant faith  entirely  unintelligible — and  amalgamated  por- 
tions of  both  to  form  a  third,  and  ordained — "This  is  now 
to  be  your  creed  !" 

This  shows  how  shrewd  a  man  may  be  in  political 
matters,  and  how  astonishingly  short-sighted  on  religious 
questions.  The  people,  neither  of  one  party  nor  the  other, 
suffered  what  was  proposed  in  his  Interim  to  be  forced  upon 
them.  Each  had  its  own  creed,  and  rejected  his.  Although 
concessions  were  made  to  the  Protestants  on  the  doctrine 
of  justification,  and  some  other  points,  differences  about 
Church  constitutions,  the  hierarchy,  and  episcopal  authority, 
could  no  longer  be  settled  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen. 

When  these  difficulties  appeared,  recourse  was  had  to 
force.  At  Augsburg,  Ulm,  Constance,  Strasburg,  Ratisbon, 
and  all  the  cities  of  Upper  Germany,  the  refractory  inhabit- 
ants were  treated  with  military  executions ;  the  Emperor's 
Spanish  soldiers  disturbed  the  peace  of  towns  and  families, 
and  hundreds  of  faithful  preachers  in  Southern  Germany 
wandered  about  homeless  with  their  wives  and  families. 
The  Emperor  would  gladly  have  been  content  with  gentle 
compulsion,  threats,  and  intimidation  ;  but  these  did  not 
produce  the  desired  effect.  If  the  people  had  so  readily 
adopted  another  creed,  their  former  one  must  have  been  a 
lie.  They  had  mostly  to  be  driven  to  mass  by  soldiers,  and 
all  kinds  of  severity  were  practised. 

Except  in  the  helpless  cities  of  Upper  Germany,  the 
Interim  simply  fell  to  the  ground.  The  Catholics  were  not 
required  to  adopt  it,  and  the  Protestant  rulers  either  rejected 
or  refused  to  enforce  it,  and  in  both  cases  the  result  was 
the  same. 


THE  INTERIM   OF  AUGSBURG.  217 

When  it  was  proclaimed  by  some  prudent  princes,  as  in 
the  Palatinate  and  Wiirtemberg,  their  subjects  crossed  them- 
selves, and  simply  kept  to  thtir  old  creed.  Maurice  pro- 
claimed it,  and  had  it  weakened  a  little  to  make  it  more 
palatable ;  but  he  soon  saw  that  it  could  not  be  seriously 
enforced,  and  contented  himself  with  the  appearance  of 
good  intentions.  This  displeased  the  Emperor,  who  had 
not  expected  such  contumacy  from  his  faithful  ally.  Fur- 
ther northward  the  Interim  was  met  with  open  resistance. 
Magdeburg  declared  its  intention  of  opposing  it  to  the 
utmost,  and  it  was  the  same  in  all  the  northern  districts 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  Emperor's  arm.  In  short,  the 
attempt  to  restore  the  unity  of  the  German  Church  by  the 
Interim,  and  by  Spanish  soldiers,  was  found  to  present  great 
difficulties.  A  bitter  feeling  prevailed  throughout  Ger- 
many that  all  men  had  been  grossly  deceived,  and  that  the 
rulers,  who  had  said  it  was  not  a  question  of  religion,  had 
themselves  been  deluded.  The  fugitive  press  of  those  days 
teemed  with  bitter  ill-will,  and  we  still  possess  some  prints 
in  which  it  is  said  of  Maurice,  with  true  presentiment,  that 
as  he  had,  like  Judas,  betrayed  his  fellow-professors,  so  he 
would  also  betray  the  Emperor. 

The  news  of  the  events  which  had  transpired  in  the 
cities  of  Upper  Germany  spread  rapidly  throughout  the 
empire.  The  hateful  scenes  which  had  been  enacted,  the 
violence  towards  governments  and  individuals,  the  exile  of 
eminent  citizens  and  faithful  ministers,  excited  loud  indig- 
nation everywhere.  Such  things  showed  the  real  significance 
of  the  Emperor's  victory  ;  and  the  greater  the  confidence 
before,  the  greater  the  exasperation  now.  The  Emperor's 
Spanish  policy  was  seen  through,  and  it  was  known  that  the 
worst  was  to  be  expected  from  it. 

In  any  case,  if  the  Emperor  could  rely  on  his  agents,  a 
serious  conflict  was  at  hand.  If  the  subjection  of  a  few 
imperial  cities,  and  the  fall  of  the  Palatinate  and  Wiirtem- 
berg, had  made  such  a  noise,  how  would  it  be  should  the 
Emperor  collect  his  forces  to  subjugate  the  North? 

But,  just  when  he  thought  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the  labour 
of  years,  he  experienced  the  bitterest  disappointment,  for 
all  the  supports  tailed  him  on  which  he  had  hitherto  relied 
— Rome,  France,  the  ruling  princes,  and,  above  all,  Maurice. 
This  favourite  pupil  of  his  policy  played  off  his  masterpiece 
upon  his  master  by  so  contriving  that,  by  the  most  motley 


2l8  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

of  all  coalitions,  the  Pope,  the  Turks,  Rome  and  the 
German  rulers,  the  Protestants  and  France,  should  com- 
bine to  upset  the  Emperor's  power. 

THE   COUNCIL   OF  TRENT  FROM   DECEMBER,   1545,  AND 
THE  DIET  OF  AUGSBURG  FROM  SEPTEMBER,  1547. 

The  Emperor's  successes  were  regarded  with  mixed 
feelings  at  Rome.  It  was  satisfactory  that  schism  seemed 
to  be  put  an  end  to  ;  but  it  was  not  exactly  agreeable  that 
the  Emperor's  arm  should  rule  from  Rome  to  the  Alps. 
It  created  great  uneasiness  when  he  began  to  meddle  in 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  in  which  he  was  neither  versed  nor 
disposed  to  pay  exclusive  regard  to  the  interests  of  the 
Curia.  Ever  since  1529  it  had  been  Charles's  idea  to 
settle  the  ecclesiastical  differences  at  a  council.  The  docu- 
ment in  which  this  plan  was  first  proposed  has  already  been 
given.*  He  had  inviolably  maintained  his  intention  of 
making  the  Protestants  submit  to  a  council ;  they  were  to 
return  to  the  old  church,  and  when  that  had  been  effected, 
he  would  influence  the  council  to  bring  about  a  reconcilia- 
tion which  would  satisfy  all  parties.  If  a  basis  of  union 
were  only  attained,  it  was  all  one  to  him  whether  concessions 
were  made  on  one  side  or  the  other,  as  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  supper,  justification,  &c. 

Rome  from  the  first  only  fell  in  with  this  plan  reluc- 
tantly. She  had  no  confidence  in  the  imperial  council, 
whether  it  was  called,  as  at  first,  a  general  ecclesiastical, 
a  free  national  council,  or  a  national  assembly,  without  the 
Pope.  This  was  far  too  ambiguous  for  the  views  of  the 
Curia.  The  convocation  of  the  council  was  therefore  con- 
tinually opposed,  and  it  was  not  till  1537  that  the  idea 
arose  of  stopping  the  increasing  defection  by  this  means. 
If  the  rulers  continued  exclusively  to  cultivate  the  private 
interests  of  their  own  houses,  it  was  clear  that  half  the 
world  would  turn  apostate.  The  programme  for  a  council 
was  then  drawn  up ;  but  years  passed  before  it  was  called, 
and  years  more  before  it  met,  in  1545,  at  the  time  when 
Charles  had  nearly  completed  his  preparations  for  a  conflict 
with  the  heretics.  The  council  depended  on  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Emperor  against  the  heretics,  and  his  proceedings 

*  See  pages  no  and  186. 


THE   COUNCIL   OF  TRENT.  2IQ 

on  the  Pope's  concessions  in  the  matter  of  the  council. 
The  Protestants  were  now  subjugated,  and,  so  far  as  they 
had  accepted  the  Interim,  must  also  acknowledge  the 
council. 

The  Emperor  would  have  preferred  to  have  the  council 
in  Germany  instead  of,  as  the  Pope  demanded,  in  Italy. 
A  place  on  the  borders  of  Italy  and  Germany  was  finally 
fixed  on — the  bishopric  of  Trent,  which  still  belonged  to  the 
German  empire. 

The  first  proceedings  in  the  council  indicated  that  there 
was  a  great  dread  of  a  repetition  of  the  scenes  of  Constance 
and  Basle.  There  was  an  evident  desire  to  avoid  every- 
thing which  might  awaken  the  lust  of  power  which  then 
prevailed,  and  to  confirm  as  decidedly  as  possible  the 
inviolability  of  papal  authority.  The  assembly  consisted 
of  Spanish  and  Italian  monks  in  overwhelming  majority, 
and  this  was  decisive  as  to  its  character. 

When  consulted  as  to  the  course  ot  business,  the  Emperor 
had  expressed  a  wish  that  those  questions  on  which  agree- 
ment between  the  parties  was  possible  should  first  be  dis- 
cussed. There  were  a  number  of  questions  on  which  they 
were  agreed,  as,  for  example,  Greek  Christianity.  Even 
now  there  are  a  number  of  points  on  which  Protestants 
and  Catholics  are  agreed,  and  differ  from  the  Eastern 
Church. 

If  these  questions  were  considered  first,  the  attendance 
of  the  Protestants  would  be  rendered  very  much  easier;  it 
would  open  the  door  as  widely  as  possible,  they  would  pro- 
bably come  in  considerable  numbers,  and  might  in  time 
take  a  part  which  at  least  might  not  be  distasteful  to  the 
Emperor,  and  might  influence  his  ideas  on  Church  reform. 
The  thought  that  they  were  heretics  was  half  concealed. 
But  Rome  was  determined  to  pursue  the  opposite  course, 
and  at  once  to  agitate  those  questions  on  which  there  was 
the  most  essential  disagreement,  and  to  declare  all  who 
would  not  submit  to  be  incorrigible  heretics.  It  was  con- 
sidered of  less  importance  to  gain  a  few  hundred  thousand 
souls,  more  or  less,  than  to  maintain  the  infallibility  of  the 
ancient  church,  and  not  to  offer  a  dangerous  example  of 
weakness  and  compliance. 

The  first  subjects  of  discussion  were,  the  authority  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  text  of  the  Vulgate,  ecclesiastical  tradition, 
the  right  01  interpretation,  the  doctrine  of  justification.  These 


220  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

were  the  questions  on  which  the  old  and  new  doctrines 
were  irreconcilably  at  variance ;  all  other  differences  were 
insignificant  in  comparison. 

And  these  questions  were  decided  in  the  old  Roman 
Catholic  sense;  not  precisely  as  they  had  been  officially 
treated  in  1517— for  the  stream  of  time  had  produced  some 
little  effect — but  in  the  main  the  old  statutes  were  adhered 
to,  and  everything  rejected  which  departed  from  them. 
This  conduct  was  decisive.  The  Emperor  had  intended  to 
attract  the  Protestants  by  smooth  words  of  peace  and  re- 
conciliation, and  to  render  their  first  steps  towards  a 
return  to  unity  as  easy  as  possible ;  if  they  were  once  pre- 
sent at  the  council  they  would  perhaps  be  of  use  to  him  in 
counterbalancing  the  overweening  claims  of  the  Curia  ;  the 
idea  of  turning  them  to  account  to  oppose  the  hierarchy  itself 
was  perhaps  not  far  from  his  thoughts,  but  the  attempt  was 
not  made.  The  Emperor  had  taken  so  much  pains  and 
made  so  many  sacrifices  to  smooth  the  way  for  the  council, 
had  so  often  solemnly  assured  the  Protestants  that  reforms 
should  be  made  when  once  the  council  was  secured,  if  they 
would  not  obstinately  oppose  it :  but  now  the  council  was 
sitting,  and  the  first  word  that  sounded  forth  from  Trent 
was  anathema  sit !  From  this  time  the  Emperor  and  the 
Pope  were  at  variance,  and  it  was  plain  from  the  correspond- 
ence which  took  place  between  them  that  they  could  no 
longer  agree. 

The  Pope  thought  proper  to  transfer  the  council  to 
another  place  in  order  to  lessen  the  Emperor's  influence. 
He  had  already  recalled  the  auxiliary  troops  from  the 
imperial  camp.  On  account  of  some  deaths  which  had 
taken  place  at  Trent,  although  they  had  diminished  rather 
than  increased,  it  was  decided  that  a  longer  tarriance  in  the 
neighbourhood  would  endanger  the  health  of  the  prelates, 
and  in  March,  1547,  the  greater  part  of  the  assembly 
migrated  to  Bologna. 

In  January,  1548,  a  solemn  embassy  from  the  Emperor 
arrived  at  Bologna,  made  a  decided  protest  on  the  threshold 
of  the  assembly,  and  declared  that  the  Council  of  Trent 
having  been  forcibly  interrupted,  everything  debated  and 
decreed  at  Bologna  was  null  and  void. 

Thus,  just  as  the  Emperor  was  beginning  to  enforce  his 
Interim  in  Germany,  and  to  make  his  soldiers  drive  the 
Protestants  to  mass,  he  was  met  by  the  tremendous  mis- 


THE   PRAGMATIC   SANCTION.  221 

fortune  of  an  open  breach  with  Rome,  and  was  compelled 
to  enter  a  solemn  protest  against  her  proceedings.  In  such 
a  state  of  things  it  was  impossible  that  a  great  ecclesiastical 
contest  should  be  carried  on.  In  the  conflict  with  the 
greater  part  of  the  German  nation  and  rulers,  it  would 
never  do  to  be  at  enmity  with  Rome ;  he  must  have  one 
party  or  the  other  on  his  side.  And  just  then,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  usual  caution  and  coolness  of  his  character,  the 
Emperor  had  extensive  projects  which  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  carry  out  under  any  circumstances,  and  under 
the  present  they  were  doubly  audacious. 

The  Diet  had  assembled  in  1547  under  the  impression  of 
the  Emperor's  victories.  He  could  there  decree  whatever 
he  chose.  The  princes  who  had  had  the  courage  to  oppose 
him  were  in  prison,  others  stayed  away ;  these  exceptional 
circumstances  occasioned  a  great  preponderance  in  his 
favour. 

He  proclaimed  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  for  the  Nether- 
lands, whereby  his  old  Burgundian  inheritance  was  declared 
by  his  own  law  to  be  indivisible,  the  succession  settled 
on  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  it  was  attached  to  the  German 
empire  as  a  tenth  district,  had  to  pay  certain  contributions, 
but  was  not  to  be  subject  to  the  Imperial  Chamber  or  the 
Imperial  Court  of  Judicature.  He  thus  secured  the  personal 
union  of  these  territories  with  his  house,  and  made  it  the 
duty  of  the  empire  to  defend  them,  while  at  the  same  time 
he  withdrew  them  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  empire ;  it 
was  a  union  by  which  the  private  interests  of  the  house  of 
Hapsburg  had  everything  to  gain,  but  which  was  of  no 
advantage  to  the  empire. 

The  other  decrees  which  the  Emperor  had  passed 
amounted  almost  to  a  formal  revolution  in  Germany. 

The  seizure  of  ecclesiastical  property,  the  spoliation  of 
churches  and  monasteries  and  interference  with  ecclesias- 
tical jurisdiction,  were  for  the  first  time  declared  to  be 
breaches  of  the  peace.  The  Imperial  Court  of  Judicature, 
the  comparative  independence  of  which  had  long  been  a 
thorn  in  the  Emperor's  side,  was  reconstituted,  and  the 
appointment  to  seats  in  it  was  assigned  to  him. 

An  imperial  military  treasury  was  established  which 
would  enable  the  Emperor,  out  of  the  resources  of  the 
empire,  to  maintain  his  Spanish  troops  in  readiness,  and  to 
repress  any  insurrection. 


222  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

The  opposition  to  this  proposal  was  almost  universal,  but 
the  Emperor  prevailed,  at  least  at  the  Diet.  He  was 
master  in  Germany  as  no  Emperor  had  been  for  centuries, 
but  he  was  challenging  the  ruling  aristocracy  by  a  revolu- 
tion which,  whether  beneficial  or  not,  could  not  be  carried 
out  if  those  by  whose  means  he  had  obtained  his  last  great 
victory  refused  to  accept  it.  It  would  never  do  for  him, 
when  he  was  at  war  both  with  Rome  and  with  Protest- 
antism, to  challenge  the  high  nobility  of  the  German 
nation  to  a  single  combat.  "  One  thing  at  a  time,"  Luther 
used  to  say.  Either  of  these  three  tasks  would  have  been 
sufficient  for  the  life  work  of  one  ruler,  and  to  undertake 
them  all  at  once  was  most  presumptuous ;  but  the 
Emperor's  successes  had  got  into  his  head,  and  he  regarded 
nothing  as  impossible.  Of  course  among  the  German 
princes  the  question,  "Protestantism  or  Catholicism?" 
began  to  retreat  into  the  background,  and  instead  of  doing 
anything  to  stifle  this  growing  opposition,  Charles  rather 
aggravated  it. 

His  treatment  of  the  two  imprisoned  princes  was  quite 
unworthy  of  him.  It  was  an  absurd  anachronism  to  act  as 
no  German  Emperor  had  ever  acted  before,  on  account  of 
their  feuds  with  him,  to  pass  hasty  judgment  upon  them  as 
if  they  had  been  common  criminals,  to  deprive  them  of  their 
territories  and  dignities,  then  to  sentence  them  to  death,  and 
have  them  dragged  from  one  prison  to  another. 

It  was  all  very  well  for  Charlemagne,  amidst  immense 
successes,  to  denose  the  powerful  Thassilo,  who  had  twice 
betrayed  him.  W.ien  Conrad  II.  displaced  his  stepson  as  an 
incorrigible  rebel,  there  were  some  disapproving  voices,  but 
the  majority  approved  for  the  sake  of  order  in  the  empire. 
But  it  was  five  hundred  years  since  an  Emperor  had  passed 
sentence  of  death  on  a  prince  of  the  empire  within  its 
bounds.  Even  Frederic  I.,  after  citing  Henry  the  Lion  five 
times  to  appear  before  him,  only  dispossessed  him  of  his 
lands,  and  part  of  these  were  afterwards  restored  to  him.  The 
cause  of  John  Frederic  was  the  cause  of  all  the  German 
rulers.  The  good-natured  Elector,  who,  though  not  a 
great,  was  a  truly  honourable  man,  possessed  the  confidence 
of  all  parties,  and  it  was  a  shame  to  treat  him  like  a 
common  criminal.  If  the  Emperor  meant  the  sentence 
of  death  in  earnest,  it  was  a  needless  cruelty  to  keep  it, 
like  the  sword  of  Damocles,  hanging  over  his  head ;  and 


TREATMENT  OF   PHILIP  OF   HESSE.  223 

if  not,  it   was   making   unpardonable   sport   with   judicial 
murder. 

Philip  of  Hesse  was  the  most  beloved  of  all  the  ruling 
princes  of  his  time,  and  deservedly  so ;  for,  with  all  his 
weaknesses  and  passions,  his  faith  and  patriotism  were 
matters  of  holy  earnestness  with  him.  The  Emperor  him- 
self had  had  many  proofs  of  this,  and  his  troops  all  knew 
him  as  a  brave  soldier.  To  drag  him  from  prison  to  prison, 
and  to  allow  him  to  languish  in  loathsome  dungeons  till  he 
nearly  lost  his  reason,  was  not  only  barbarity,  it  was  mad- 
ness. 

The  complaints  of  the  wretched  prince  were  heart-rending, 
but  were  of  no  avail ;  and  in  vain  did  his  eldest  son  offer  to 
take  his  place  in  prison.  Alba  and  Granvella  neglected  his 
petitions  with  coarse  brutality,  and  the  Emperor  had  no 
inclination  to  read  them.  The  Landgrave  reminded  him  of 
his  word  and  promises  so  shamefully  broken.  He  was  kept 
in  filthy  holes,  guarded  by  Spanish  soldiers  ;  and  the  stench 
and  their  brutality  nearly  drove  him  to  despair.  He  says 
that  instead  of  the  four  who  were  appointed,  ten  or  twelve 
always  came  into  his  room ;  when  he  slept,  they  drew  up 
the  blinds  to  see  that  he  did  not  escape  through  a  mouse- 
hole,  or  a  chink  in  the  wall.  From  Augsburg  he  was  re- 
moved to  Nordlingen,  to  a  public-house,  where  the  landlord 
had  lately  died  of  the  plague.  On  account  of  an  uncivil 
answer,  the  Emperor  deprived  him  of  his  physician,  his  secre- 
tary, and  his  other  attendants,  and  writing  materials  were 
forbidden  him.  When  he  was  taken  down  the  shores  of  the 
Rhine  in  1548,  he  was  followed  by  a  mob  who  called  after 
him,  "There  goes  the  rebel  and  villain;"  and  it  was  plain 
that  they  were  employed  to  do  it.  All  the  disputes  that 
were  pending  between  Hesse  and  its  neighbours  and 
vassals  were  decided  meanwhile  by  the  Emperor,  and  the 
country  was  oppressed  in  every  way.  The  Landgrave  was 
taken  to  a  prison  in  Oudenarde,  and  made  to  enter  into  an 
ignominious  treaty  with  the  master  of  Germany. 

When  for  his  health's  sake  he  wished  to  have  meat  in 
Passion  week,  the  Spanish  captain  flung  it  to  him  on  the 
ground.  The  Landgravine,  who  had  fallen  at  the  Emperor's 
feet  in  vain,  was  lying  dangerously  ill.  Not  long  before  her 
death,  she  addressed  a  touching  petition  to  the  Emperor, 
pointing  out  that  all  the  conditions  of  the  treaty  had  been 
fulfilled,  and  imploring  him,  for  the  sake  of  her  father's 


224  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

services,  to  restore  her  husband  to  her.  In  1549  she  died, 
without  obtaining  the  least  favour.  The  Landgrave  was 
subjected  to  still  stricter  imprisonment  at  Malines,  and 
placed  under  a  brutal  and  bigoted  Spanish  gaoler.  And 
after  the  iailure  of  an  attempt  to  escape  in  1550,  two  of  his 
faithful  Hessians  were  hung  before  his  eyes.  He  was  de- 
prived of  all  his  German  servants,  and  fell  into  a  gloomy 
stupor  which  made  it  appear  that  his  reason  was  in  danger. 

Men  were  learning  every  day  in  Germany  what  German 
liberty  had  to  expect  from  the  Spanish  Emperor,  whose 
Spanish  soldiers  were  treating  the  princes  as  he  treated  the 
nation.  The  imperial  troops  were  behaving  everywhere  as 
if  they  were  in  a  conquered  country ;  and  the  complaints 
that  were  uttered  in  fugitive  papers  and  pamphlets  indicate 
a  national  exasperation  like  that  which  prevailed  in  the 
worst  times  of  Napoleon's  rule,  occasioned  by  the  ignominy 
of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine. 

One  paper  said  :  "  Germany  shall  not  be  subject  to 
Spaniards  and  priests."  In  another  :  "  It  is  come  to  this 
with  the  German  nation ;  it  is  mocked  at.  God  help 
us." 

The  feeling  was  this  :  "  Are  we  the  great  nation  on  pur- 
pose that  the  Emperor  may  impose  a  brutal  foreign  yoke 
upon  us  ?  "  The  Emperor  had  no  one  on  his  side  but  his 
soldiers  and  his  cabinet — all  the  great  factors  of  the  age 
were  against  him ;  Catholicism,  Protestantism,  the  princes 
and  people  of  Germany.  We  seek  in  vain  for  any  voice 
which  said,  "  Let  us  endure  it  all  as  a  trial,  so  that  we  may 
but  preserve  the  unity  of  the  empire."  We  may  make  these 
reflections  at  our  desks  in  the  nineteenth  century,  but  at 
that  time  they  were  impossible. 

One  German  prince  must  have  felt  these  expressions  of 
open  ill-will  as  so  many  pricks  of  conscience  ;  for  had  it  not 
been  for  the  defection  of  Maurice  of  Saxony,  the  Protestant 
League  would  scarcely  have  been  vanquished,  and  his 
honour  was  involved  in  the  assurances  given  to  Philip.  It 
was  long  before  he  appeared  to  be  amenable  to  these 
feelings,  though  his  father-in-law,  Philip,  did  not  spare  him 
admonitions,  entreaties,  and  reproaches.  He  once  wrote  to 
him  :  "  If  he  had  been  a  poor  vassal,  and  had  given  him 
such  a  verbal  promise,  he  would  go  to  the  Emperor  and 
say,  '  Sire,  we  gave  him  this  promise,  and  if  you  will  not  set 
him  free,  let  me  go  to  prison  in  his  place.'  If  you  act  in 


NATIONAL  EXASPERATION.  225 

this  way  to  avoid  a  little  anger  or  displeasure,  your  reproach 
will  never  be  extinguished,  but  will  live  in  history." 

In  July,  1547,  Maurice  addressed  himself  to  King  Ferdi- 
nand, and  represented  to  him  that  this  conduct  was  making 
a  fatal  impression  in  the  empire ;  but  it  was  of  no  avail.  A 
personal  appeal  to  the  Emperor  met  with  the  same  fate. 
The  Emperor  was  blinded  and  supercilious,  and  even  told 
Maurice  that  he  would  grant  nothing  of  the  kind  ;  he  would 
have  the  Landgrave's  body  cut  in  two,  and  send  half  to 
each  of  the  two  securities.  The  intoxication  of  supreme 
power  had  caused  even  this  cool  calculator  to  lose  his  head. 
He  was  now  ready  to  become  a  sacrifice  to  a  masterly 
intrigue. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Maurice  and  the  Conspiracy  of  the  German  Princes. — Isolation  of  the 
Elector  among  both  Catholics  and  Protestants. — The  Negotiations 
with  France.— The  Coalition  against  the  Emperor. — Treaty  with 
France,  and  Surprise  of  the  Emperor,  1551-2. — Treaty  of  Cham- 
bord,  January,  1552. — March  of  the  Allies,  March,  1552. — Security 
and  Defiance  of  the  Emperor. — Taking  of  the  Ehrenberger  Klause, 
May,  1552. — Charles's  Flight. — The  Treaty  of  Passau  and  the  Peace 
of  Augsburg,  August,  1552 — September,  1555. — Charles's  Retreat 
and  Last  Days. — General  Results  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany. 

MAURICE  AND  THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  THE  GERMAN 
PRINCES,  1550-51. 

MAURICE  saw  more  and  more  plainly  that  his  game 
could  not  be  carried  on  very  long.  He  was  regarded 
with  fearful  hatred.  All  John  Frederic's  sufferings  were 
ascribed  to  him,  his  faithless  relative,  and  he  was  reproached 
with  the  ill-treatment  of  his  father-in-law,  the  Landgrave,  to 
whom  he  had  given  his  word  of  honour.  Nothing  could  be 
more  hideous  than  the  colours  in  which  he  was  painted. 
In  his  own  country,  it  was  said  that  it  was  ruled  by  a  two- 
fold and  threefold  traitor,  and  a  literature  of  pamphlets 
arose  around  him,  in  which  the  subject  of  Judas  Iscariot 
was  treated  in  a  hundred  different  ways.  Hatred  and  dis- 
trust encompassed  him  on  every  side,  and  then  there  was 
the  position  of  affairs  in  general ;  the  increasing  oppression 
of  a  foreign  yoke,  the  growing  agitation  in  the  nation,  the 
Emperor's  conflict  with  Rome,  and  the  latest  results  of  his 
political  supremacy.  It  was  suspected  that  the  clever  and 
cautious  diplomatist  had  not  yet  spoken  his  last  word,  nor 
played  his  last  card  ;  still,  if  he  did  not  make  haste,  the 
favourable  moment  would  be  frittered  away.  Otherwise,  the 
captive  Landgrave  would  be  justified  in  saying,  when  told 
of  the  Elector's  secret  plans,  "  I  can't  understand  how  a 


CONSPIRACY  OF   THE   GERMAN   PRINCES.      227 

sparrow  can  conquer  a  vulture,  when  he  drives  away,  and 
even  disperses,  the  best  birds." 

All  this  occasioned  Maurice  to  think — "  I  must  try  to 
regain  my  position  in  my  country,  and  with  the  Protestant 
party,  which  will  counterbalance  the  threatened  supremacy 
of  the  Emperor." 

His  first  idea  was  to  incline  the  Emperor  to  clemencv 
towards  the  Landgrave,  and  he  made  sure  that  his  advice 
would  be  followed  ;  but  in  this  he  was  mistaken.  By  his 
protraction  of  the  siege  of  Magdeburg,  and  keeping  back 
his  troops,  it  was  plain  that  he  wanted  to  reserve  his  forces. 
His  first  open  defection  was  his  refusal  to  appear  at  the 
Diet  of  Augsburg  in  1550.  He  said  that  he  and  the  Duke 
of  Brandenburg  could  not  honourably  attend,  unless  the 
Emperor  would  set  the  Landgrave  free.  Besides,  he  had 
given  the  Landgrave's  sons  an  express  promise  that  he 
would  not  accept  the  Emperor's  invitation. 

He  next  turned  a  listening  ear  to  France,  to  discover 
whether  there  were  any  intention  in  that  quarter  of  pre- 
paring a  diversion  for  her  ancient  foe,  and  France  had 
already  an  inkling  of  the  rising  storm. 

So  Maurice  did  not  go  to  Augsburg.  He  instructed  his 
ambassador  in  reference  to  the  council ;  again  promised  to 
urge  that  Protestants  must  be  invited  to  it ;  that  it  must  be 
conducted  in  a  godly  and  Christian  manner,  according  to 
the  Scriptures ;  that  false  doctrines  and  abuses  must  be 
abolished  :  but  these  things  must  not  be  decided  by  discus- 
sions on  the  papal  supremacy,  but  by  reference  to  holy 
Scripture.  To  such  a  council  he  would  send  brave,  learned, 
and  peaceable  men.  But  they  were  not  to  consent  to  the 
articles  already  decided  on  at  Trent  and  Bologna.  The 
Diet  already  showed  the  Emperor's  isolation,  and  while  the 
Elector  once  more  received  from  it  a  mark  of  the  Emperor's 
confidence,  he  was  making  advances  to  France  behind 
his  back,  and  this  without  any  scruples  of  conscience.  His 
conduct  with  regard  to  Magdeburg  was  remarkable.  He 
delayed  to  execute  the  interdict  which,  immediately  after 
the  battle  of  Muhlberg,  was  pronounced  against  the  city. 
He  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  subjects  of  it,  but 
contrived  to  keep  the  management  entirely  in  his  own 
hands ;  it  would  be  enough  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
interdicted  persons,  to  break  off  all  intercourse  with  the 
city;  he  had  great  scruples  against  a  general  war.  Thi« 


228  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

was  in  December,  1548.  Meanwhile,  Denmark  and  the  sea- 
port towns  were  preparing  for  war,  as  was  supposed  for 
Magdeburg  ;  but  this  did  not  induce  Maurice  to  take  more 
decided  measures,  because  it  would  only  strengthen  the 
cause  of  the  city.  The  troops  were  slowly  put  in  motion ; 
the  Diet  of  1550  charged  him  with  the  execution  of  the 
interdict,  but  the  position  of  affairs  remained  essentially  the 
same. 

Meanwhile  strange  rumours  came  from  the  imperial  camp. 
Expressions  were  reported  from  Brussels,  to  the  effect  that 
things  would  not  go  on  well  in  Germany  unless  the  Em- 
peror took  the  affairs  of  the  German  princes  into  his  own 
hands ;  that  all  would  go  well  when  Prince  Philip  was 
settled  on  the  throne.  It  would  be  better  for  Germany  to 
have  one  master  than  so  many  tyrants. 

And  when  Maurice  did  not  appear  at  Augsburg,  the 
Spaniards  said  that,  as  Maurice  had  shown  himself  so  dis- 
obedient after  the  Emperor's  victories,  and  as  he  and  his 
subjects  were  all  Lutherans,  the  Emperor  was  of  opinion 
that  he  could  not  expect  better  things  of  him  than  of  John 
Frederic.  The  ambassadors  could  not  say  enough  of  the 
arrogance  of  the  Spaniards,  their  contempt  of  the  Germans 
and  wild  fanaticism. 

Maurice  now  made  a  show  of  more  zeal  against  Magde- 
burg; took  the  Neustadt,  November,  1550,  and  marched 
against  Verden ;  all  that  he  might  have  an  excuse  for 
not  obeying  the  Emperor's  summons  to  Augsburg,  to 
help  forward  the  Infante'  Philip's  election.  The  Austrian 
party  among  his  ministers,  and  Carlowitz  himself,  com- 
plained that  he  did  not  do  the  town  much  harm.  Never- 
theless, the  march  against  Verden  pacified  the  imperial 
court.  Duca  Mauritio  was,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Spaniards, 
the  best  and  most  useful  servant.  Maurice  could,  therefore, 
the  better  work  undisturbed  against  the  claims  of  the 
Infante  Philip ;  political  interest  and  personal  friendship 
with  Maximilian,  Ferdinand's  son,  concurred  in  inducing 
this.  He  went  a  step  further,  and  looked  earnestly  about 
him  for  allies,  as  any  prospect  that  the  Emperor  would  yield 
grew  less  and  less. 

In  February,  1551,  he  conferred  with  the  Margrave  John 
of  Brandenburg  as  to  the  best  means  of  releasing  John 
Frederic  and  Philip  of  Hesse  from  prison.  The  Princes  of 
Weimar,  the  Landgraves  of  Hesse,  and  other  powers  were 


CONSPIRACY  OF  THE   GERMAN   PRINCES.      2 29 

to  be  asked  to  join.  But  Maurice  was  still  cautious,  re- 
minded the  Margrave  that  he  was  the  Emperor's  servant, 
and  asked  if  he  knew  what  a  difficult  bird  to  hit  they  were 
aiming  at.  However,  they  at  length  agreed  that  the  enter- 
prise should  be  begun  in  the  cause  of  liberty  and  religion, 
and  for  the  release  of  the  captive  princes.  They  reckoned 
upon  aid  from  Prussia,  Pomerania,  and  Mecklenburg,  and 
upon  subsidies  from  France  ;  an  attack  was  afterwards  to  be 
made  upon  the  Netherlands.  England  was  even  reckoned 
among  the  probable  allies,  and  it  was  thought  not  impossible 
that  the  Turks  might  keep  Ferdinand  at  home.  With  such 
a  force,  it  was  supposed  that  priests  and  monks  might  be 
driven  out  of  Germany. 

Very  opportunely,  a  threatening  despatch  arrived  from  the 
Emperor,  expressing  his  displeasure  at  Maurice's  absence ; 
he  would  show  himself  under  another  aspect  in  future,  and 
the  Landgrave's  sons  deserved  severe  punishment  for  their 
conduct.  Added  to  this,  Philip's  complaints  grew  more 
grievous,  for  he  feared  that  he  was  to  be  dragged  away  to 
Spain. 

The  greatest  difficulty  was  to  overcome  the  excessive 
distrust  of  Maurice.  No  one  would  believe  that  he  was  in 
earnest.  The  Margrave  of  Brandenburg  had  therefore  to 
undertake  to  gain  over  the  family  of  the  captive  prince,  and 
to  persuade  them  that  this  time  Maurice  would  not  play  the 
traitor ;  but  he  had  great  difficulty  in  doing  so.  In  May, 
1551,  John  of  Brandenburg,  Maurice,  William  of  Hesse,  and 
Albert  of  Mecklenburg,  met  at  Torgau.  But,  as  is  shown 
by  a  despatch  of  July,  Maurice  still  held  back  from  counsels 
that  would  lead  to  war.  William  of  Hesse  was  right  in 
saying  that  negotiations  would  be  as  useless  as  heretofore. 

Once  more  Maurice  and  John  of  Brandenburg  sent  to 
Ferdinand,  to  represent  to  him  more  urgently  than  ever 
how  ill  their  services  had  been  requited.  They  referred  to 
the  negotiations  at  Halle,  and  to  the  fact  that  the  treaty  in 
all  points  presupposed  a  reigning,  and  not  a  captive  Land- 
grave. All  this  was  as  unavailing  as  before,  and  Magdeburg 
became  more  and  more  a  convenient  pretext  for  warlike 
preparations. 


230  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

THE  TREATY  WITH  FRANCE,  ANi5  SURPRISE  OF  THE 
EMPEROR,  1551-2. 

All  these  preparations  were  carried  on  with  the  greatest 
secrecy — the  Emperor  was  to  be  taken  entirely  by  surprise. 
To  make  quite  sure  of  success,  a  conspiracy  of  the  German 
princes  was  not  enough.  Maurice  never  doubted  that  they 
must  secure  the  help  of  France,  and  was  not  to  be  deterred 
by  some  hesitation  on  the  subject.  The  others  did  not 
think  it  quite  so  easy  or  so  safe,  and  it  took  some  time  to 
convince  them,  John  of  Brandenburg  especially,  that  this 
help  would  be  desirable.  By  the  beginning  of  1551  they 
had,  however,  at  length  come  to  an  agreement ;  and  in 
May  negotiations  were  set  on  foot  by  means  of  an  embassy, 
sent  by  Maurice,  John  of  Brandenburg,  William  of  Hesse, 
and  John  Albert  of  Mecklenburg,  to  Henry  II.  He  was 
to  grant  subsidies  and  make  a  diversion  against  the  Emperor. 
In  return,  a  prospect  of  the  imperial  crown  was  held  out  to 
him  ;  and  in  case  the  election  should  fall  on  any  other 
house,  they  promised  not  to  stand  by  the  imperial  chief 
without  the  King's  consent. 

Henry's  tactics  were  slow  and  cautious ;  still,  a  commis- 
sioner received  his  instructions  in  July.  In  October, 
Maurice,  his  brother,  the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  and 
John  Albert  of  Mecklenburg,  met  at  Lochau,  and  discussed 
the  mode  of  attack  when  France  should  have  made  up  her 
mind.  Hesse  was  to  begin  hostilities;  Maurice  was  to  come 
to  an  understanding  with  Magdeburg;  at  the  same  time  the 
Treaty  of  Friedewald  was  concluded  with  France,  and  con- 
firmed by  Henry  II.  at  Chambord  on  January  i5th,  1552. 

In  consideration  of  a  considerable  sum  of  money  granted 
to  the  allies,  the  King  was  to  be  empowered  to  occupy  as 
Vicar  of  the  Empire,  reserving  the  imperial  sovereignty,  the 
imperial  cities  where  German  was  not  spoken,  as  Cambray, 
Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun.  The  allies  also  promised,  when 
an  Emperor  was  elected,  to  choose  the  King  himself,  or 
some  prince  agreeable  to  him.  All  the  other  States  of  the 
empire  were  to  be  asked  to  join,  especially  the  sons  of  John 
Frederic. 

In  December,  1551.  Saxony  and  Brandenburg,  in  con- 
nection with  Denmark,  the  Palatinate,  Zweibriicken. 
Bavaria,  Baden,  Wtirtemberg,  and  Mecklenburg,  took  the 
final  step  of  sending  an  embassy  to  Innsbruck ;  but  it  was 


TREATY  WITH  FRANCE.          231 

as  fruitless  as  before.  The  Emperor  wished  that  Maurice 
should  come  to  him  at  Innsbruck,  and  Maurice  pretended 
that  he  meant  to  comply,  but  he  came  in  a  very  different 
way  from  what  the  Emperor  expected. 

The  siege  of  Magdeburg  was  now  raised,  and  the  city  sur- 
rendered to  Maurice.  He  promised  to  induce  the  Emperor 
to  allow  it  to  retain  its  privileges  and  liberties.  There  was 
also  in  all  probability  some  secret  arrangement,  for  Magde- 
burg was  to  be  a  refuge  for  him  in  case  the  enterprise 
against  the  Emperor  failed. 

Thus  the  storm  gathered  over  the  Emperor.  He  had 
warnings  enough,  but  he  no  longer  had  any  friends  to  do 
anything  for  him.  A  bitter  feeling  prevailed  against  him 
on  all  sides,  and  there  was  ill-humour  and  dissension  even 
in  his  own  camp  and  his  own  family.  His  brother  Ferdinand 
was  King  of  Germany,  and  had  become  so  accustomed  to 
the  dignity  that  he  had  no  other  idea  than  that  the  imperial 
throne  was  destined  for  him  and  his  son  Maximilian.  But 
at  the  Diet  at  Augsburg  Charles  made  every  effort  to  secure 
the  crown  for  his  son  Philip,  and  his  brother  was  deeply 
offended. 

The  isolation  and  desertion  of  the  Emperor  was  com- 
plete, yet  it  is  striking  to  observe  how  blind  and  unsuspect- 
ing, notwithstanding  all  his  knowledge  of  men,  he  was  as  to 
the  danger.  The  repeated  reports  of  what  was  going  on 
did  not  disturb  his  peace ;  "  the  upright  and  downright 
Germans,"  he  said  carelessly,  "  are  not  clever  enough  for 
such  cunning  intrigues."  He  attributed  no  hostile  inten- 
tions to  Maurice,  and  if  the  worst  came  to  the  worst,  he 
thought  he  was  in  his  power.  Yet  the  difficulties  of  the 
enterprise  were  by  no  means  overcome,  and  a  timely  effort 
might  still  have  frustrated  it.  The  increasing  demands  of 
France  became  burdensome  to  the  allies.  In  Saxony  the 
States  shrank  from  war,  theologians  like  Melancthon  had 
scruples,  zealous  Lutherans  circulated  all  sorts  of  reports 
against  Maurice,  which  could  not  fail  to  expose  him.  In 
fact,  suspicion  was  getting  more  and  more  confirmed,  and 
Ferdinand  secretly  conveyed  warning  hints  to  Maurice ;  but 
the  Emperor  remained  quiet.  Happen  what  might,  he  con- 
sidered that  he  had  a  chained  bear  in  John  Frederic,  whom 
he  had  only  to  let  loose  to  strangle  Maurice.  But  he  did 
not  seriously  suspect  anything,  and  continued  to  give  fair 
but  empty  promises. 


232  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

In  March,  1552,  the  revolt  broke  out,  and  the  three 
armies  were  united. 

Maurice  marched  by  way  of  Weissenfels,  Naumburg, 
Weimar,  and  Erfurt,  collecting  his  forces  by  the  way,  and  on 
the  23rd  of  March  he  joined  William  of  Hesse  at  Bischofs- 
heim.  Before  setting  out,  he  had  sent  a  despatch  to 
Ferdinand,  indicating  what  was  coming.  The  manifesto 
followed  containing  the  grievances  on  the  subject  of  religion, 
complaints  of  the  Emperor's  attempt  to  assert  his  own 
dominion,  authority,  and  power,  "  the  infamy  and  unreason- 
ableness "  of  Philip's  imprisonment,  the  dominion  of  foreign 
troops,  and  the  "  beastly  hereditary  servitude  "  which  it  had 
been  attempted  to  impose  upon  the  Germans. 

By  way  of  Schweinfurt  and  Kitzingen  Maurice  advanced 
to  Rotenburg  in  Franconia,  where  he  was  joined  by  Albert 
of  Brandenburg,  and  their  united  forces  then  marched  to 
Augsburg,  "  the  watch-tower  of  the  imperial  power,"  where 
the  Protestant  restoration  began  at  once,  after  the  imperial 
garrison  had  hastily  evacuated  the  city.  The  princes  and 
cities  of  Upper  Germany  now  joined  the  electors ;  the 
Fiench  also  advanced  :  the  aspect  of  affairs  in  Italy  was  por- 
tentous. Then  the  Turks  were  again  threatening  an  attack, 
which  hampered  Ferdinand.  It  was  now  too  late  to  pro- 
pose negotiations ;  it  could  only  serve  as  a  means  to  gain 
time.  On  the  6th  of  April  the  Emperor  resolved  to  leave 
Innsbruck  and  go  to  Flanders.  He  only  got  as  far  as 
Leermoos,  and  received  news  on  all  sides  of  the  advance  of 
the  enemy. 

At  this  juncture  Ferdinand  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  con- 
ference with  Maurice  at  Linz.  He  thought  that  he  could 
not  refuse  it,  though  the  French  did  not  conceal  their  dis- 
approval. The  Saxon  ministers  and  States,  on  the  contrary, 
zealously  promoted  it,  and  perhaps  Maurice  was  the  more 
induced  to  go  by  the  arrogant  tone  of  the  French  allies. 
But  Charles  even  then  could  not  come  to  a  decision,  and 
wasted  the  precious  time  in  empty  talk. 

Maurice  and  Ferdinand  met  on  the  i8th  of  April.  The 
latter  was  disposed  for  a  peaceful  settlement.  He  promised 
the  release  of  the  Landgrave  ;  that  no  one  should  suffer  for 
his  faith,  but  that  the  differences  should  be  arranged  at  a 
Diet ;  the  grievances  in  the  Government  should  be  re- 
dtessed,  and  peace  negotiated  with  France.  Ferdinand 
would  recommend  his  brother  to  make  these  concessions, 


SURPRISE    OF  THE  EMPEROR.  233 

and  they  should  be  definitively  arranged  at  a  second  meeting, 
at  Passau.  Maurice  declined  an  armistice  until  then,  the 
26th  of  May ;  but  he  strongly  represented  to  the  French 
the  advantages  of  a  peaceful  settlement.  France,  however, 
had  other  schemes  in  view,  and  the  Emperor  was  still  hesi- 
tating, which  gave  the  French  good  reason  to  complain  of 
the  Elector's  credulity. 

From  the  camp,  and  especially  from  William  of  Hesse, 
urgent  advice  came  to  settle  the  question  speedily  by  an 
appeal  to  arms.  If  an  armistice  was  to  begin  on  the  2 6th 
of  May,  when  the  negotiations  were  to  take  place,  they 
considered  it  all  the  more  necessary  to  end  the  campaign 
by  that  time,  and  so  take  advantage  of  the  situation. 
Maurice  thought  them  hot-headed  ;  still  it  was  to  be  con- 
sidered that  the  Emperor  would  strengthen  the  Tyrol. 
There  were  but  a  few  marches  up  the  Lech  from  Augsburg 
to  the  entrance  of  the  Tyrol,  to  the  pass  which  Schertlin 
had  desired  to  close,  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  the  imperial 
troops  into  Germany.  During  the  second  week  in  May, 
therefore,  they  advanced  towards  the  Tyrol. 

The  Emperor  was  now  first  undeceived,  but  he  was  help- 
less. When  he  roused  himself  up  to  offer  some  opposition 
to  the  enemy,  he  only  reached  North  Tyrol  to  find  his  pass 
near  Fiissen  occupied.  He  was  shut  in  in  the  pass  called 
the  "  Ehrenberger  Klause." 

The  taking  of  the  fortress  of  Ehrenberg  by  Maurice,  by 
a  single  blow,  was  in  those  days  considered  an  exploit  of 
the  first  class,  and  by  it  he  possessed  himself  of  the  key  of 
the  Tyrol.  The  Emperor  was  compelled  to  fly,  and  had  it 
not  been  that  some  of  the  troops  of  the  allies  mutinied  after 
the  taking  of  the  pass,  they  would  probably  have  succeeded 
in  overtaking  and  capturing  the  Emperor  by  a  forced 
march.  It  has  been  supposed  that  it  was  not  Maurice's 
wish  to  do  this,  but  this  is  a  mistake.  He  was  no  friend  of 
half  measures,  and  had  a  great  desire  to  catch  the  "  old 
fox  "  in  his  den. 

The  Emperor  escaped  to  Steiermark — a  general  without 
an  army,  a  king  without  a  country.  His  inheritance,  and 
the  mountain  fortresses  of  which  he  had  scornfully  boasted, 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  John  Frederic  and  Philip 
were  released ;  the  edifice  which  he  had  reared  after  the 
battle  of  Muhlberg  was  in  ruins ;  he  was  crushed  by  the 
blow.  He  had  had  the  reputation  of  remaining  firm  and 


234  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

undaunted  even  after  great  reverses,  and  up  to  1547  this 
had  been  so ;  up  to  that  time  he  had  taken  good  and  ill 
fortune  with  calmness.  But  the  successes  of  that  year  had 
intoxicated  him ;  he  had  done  what  the  most  powerful  can- 
not venture  to  do,  and  the  sudden  reverse  which  now 
occurred  seemed  all  the  more  disastrous.* 

In  explanation  of  how  all  this  came  about,  a  few  words 
of  Lazarus  Schwendi's  may  be  useful.  He  says :  "  The  Em- 
peror gave  the  preference  to  strangers,  and  many  grievous 
and  suspicious  things  took  place  under  the  highest  of  the 
foreign  ministers;  the  grievances  in  the  empire  were  not 
redressed,  and  no  settled  peace  was  concluded  on  the 
subject  of  religion ;  thus  the  Emperor  could  not  regain  the 
good-will  of  the  Germans  and  attach  them  to  himself,  which 
is  evident  from  the  fact  that,  at  the  time  of  Maurice's 
advance,  almost  every  one  in  the  empire  was  on  his  side, 
and  no  one  would  offer  the  Emperor  any  help  or  succour. 
The  complaints  had  been  welcomed  and  approved  by 
everybody." 


THE  TREATY  OF  PASSAU,  AND  THE  RELIGIOUS  PEACE  OF 
AUGSBURG,  1552  —  SEPTEMBER,  1555. —  CHARLES  V.'s 
LAST  DAYS. —  GENERAL  RESULTS  OF  THE  GERMAN 
REFORMATION. 

TheEmperor  left  the  negotiations  tohis  brother  Ferdinand, 
who  entered  into  a  treaty  at  Passau,  by  which  it  was  agreed 
that  the  imprisoned  princes  should  be  released,  and  the 
religious  question  settled  on  the  basis  of  liberty  of  con- 
science. 

He  felt  the  successes  of  the  French  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Rhine  even  more  keenly  than  these  extorted  conces- 
sions. He  had  been  at  war  with  them  from  1521  to  1544  ; 
had  always  beaten  them ;  had  repulsed  their  repeated 
attacks  upon  Milan  and  Naples ;  he  had  acted  with  mag- 
nanimity towards  them,  and  now,  after  the  death  of  his  able 
rival,  Francis  I.,  Henry  II.,  a  prince  by  no  means  his  equal, 
and  without  personal  merit,  had  succeeded,  solely  through 
fortuitous  circumstances,  the  elastic  conscience  of  Maurice, 
and  to  some  extent  by  underhand  dealings,  in  detaching 

*  This  representation  does  not  altogether  agree  with  his  opposition 
to  the  Treaty  of  Passau. — ED. 


ABDICATION   OF   CHARLES   V.  235 

three  territories  from  the  empire,  which  were  of  more  value 
than  all  which  the  Emperor  had  obtained  by  treaty  from 
the  French. 

The  saying,  "  If  Strasburg  and  Vienna  are  threatened  at 
one  time,  I  will  go  to  Strasburg,"  would  not  perhaps  have 
been  carried  out  in  practice,  but  it  showed  a  true  instinct. 
The  Turks  might  be  regarded  as  a  waning,  the  French  as  a 
rising  power,  and,  with  their  compactness  as  a  nation,  they 
obtained  lasting  and  increasing  strength  from  every  success. 
Metz,  an  important  fortress,  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
French,  and  the  fate  of  their  latest  acquisitions  depended 
on  their  maintaining  it.  The  Emperor's  last  enterprise  was 
an  attempt  to  regain  this  valuable  possession,  but  the 
French  had  done  everything  to  secure  it ;  it  was  so  skilfully 
defended  by  Francis  of  Guise,  external  circumstances, 
weather  and  health  were  so  decidedly  unfavourable  to  the 
attacking  party,  that  the  Emperor's  hurried  campaign  was  a 
complete  failure,  and  in  January,  1553,  the  attempt  was 
given  up  as  hopeless.  It  was  his  last  enterprise  and  last 
failure  in  the  empire. 

He  now  began  to  entertain  the  idea  of  resigning  the 
business  of  government.  Originally  weakly  in  constitution, 
and  having  pursued  a  course  not  likely  to  strengthen  it,  he 
was  prematurely  old  and  feeble,  and  had  lost  the  courage 
to  take  up  his  work  again.  He  had  formerly  formed  various 
vast  projects  all  at  once,  but  now  all  inclination  for  them, 
and  all  his  elasticity  of  will,  had  deserted  him.  Not 
that  he  wished  to  renounce  politics  altogether,  for  to  do 
that  would  have  been  to  him  not  to  live  at  all;  but  he 
resolved  to  share  the  business,  to  lay  down  the  responsi- 
bility, to  exchange  the  burden  of  the  immediate  conduct  of 
it  for  the  less  thankless  office  of  secret  oversight,  and  above 
all  to  leave  the  scenes  of  his  keenly  felt  defeats.  The  con- 
sideration might  also  have  had  some  weight  that,  in  order 
to  ensure  the  continuance  of  his  policy,  it  would  be  advis- 
able to  introduce  his  young  son  into  business,  and  to  aid 
him  with  his  paternal  advice.  This  might  have  been  his  idea 
of  the  part  he  would  take  in  politics  when,  in  the  autumn 
of  1555,  he  entrusted  his  son  Philip  with  the  government 
of  the  Netherlands,  and  soon  after  wi'h  that  of  the  Spanish 
and  Italian  territories  also.  After  1556  he  resigned  the 
control  of  the  affairs  of  the  empire ;  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year  the  formal  abdication  took  place,  and  the  Em- 


236  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

peror  withdrew  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Just*  Here  he 
continued  to  take  a  share  in  politics,  but  selected  what 
gave  him  pleasure  and  no  trouble  ;  he  even  had  a  numerous 
retinue,  was  still  styled  Emperor,  and  more  couriers  and 
messengers  came  and  went  than  at  many  courts.  He  was 
occasionally  overcome  by  the  tendency  to  melancholy, 
which  he  inherited  from  his  mother,  but  he  never  had  more 
than  passing  paroxysms  of  it.  He  received  information  of 
everything,  and  upon  every  important  question  issued  in- 
structions to  his  son ;  he  reigned  jointly  with  him,  but 
without  exactly  sharing  the  burdens  of  government.  But  even 
in  the  peaceful  seclusion  of  the  cloister,  into  which  he  had, 
as  he  thought,  withdrawn  from  the  turmoil  of  the  world,  the 
controversy  was  forced  upon  him  which  had  shaped  his 
life.  Hitherto  Catholicism  had  been  more  vigorous  in 
Spain  than  anywhere  else,  and  he  probably  consoled  him- 
self with  the  thought  that  here  he  would  never  be  disturbed 
by  the  defection  from  the  faith  which  had  occasioned  his 
retirement ;  but  Protestantism  began  to  spring  up  even 
here,  and  in  some  of  the  villages  near  the  imperial  retreat. 
It  seemed  as  if  he  was  never  to  have  a  respite  from  what 
had  been  pursuing  him  all  his  life,  for  it  followed  him  with 
demon-like  footsteps  even  here. 

RETREAT  OF  CHARLES  V.,  AND  GENERAL  RESULTS  OF 
THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

The  acknowledged  defeat  of  Charles  V.  before  the  great 
reform  question  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  a  plain  indi- 
cation of  the  course  destiny  was  taking.  The  imperial 
power  had  entered  into  the  contest  with  greater  resources 
than  had  ever  been  possessed  before  ;  it  had  had  a  splendid 
vision  of  regeneration,  yet  all  had  resulted  in  a  great  collapse: 
While  imperialism  outwardly  adhered  to  the  great  traditions 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  it  was  in  reality  as  much  a  stranger  to 
them  as  to  the  modern  movements  which  it  aimed  to 
suppress.  Entirely  destitute  of  the  great  moral  levers  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  devotion  of  vassals  and  religious  en- 
thusiasm ;  even  at  enmity  with  the  most  potent  sources  of 
mediaeval  development,  it  entered  into  a  conflict  with  the 

*  Stirling's  Cloister  Life  of  Charles  V.,  1853.  Gnchard,  Retraite 
et  mort  de  Charles  V.,  Brux.,  1854.  Pichot,  Charles  V.,  Paris,  1854. 
Mignet,  Charles  V.,  son  abdication,  &c.,  1854. 


RESULTS   OF  THE  REFORMATION.  237 

national  idea,  and  the  spirit  of  religious  liberty  which  was 
then  making  way ;  and  its  only  weapon,  the  heartless 
modern  policy  of  cabinets,  which  takes  cognizance  of  out- 
ward factors  only,  showed  in  glaring  colours  its  absolute 
impotence  and  absolute  isolation. 

This  being  the  inevitable  fate  of  a  policy  which  had 
enormous  resources  at  its  disposal,  and  which,  when  it 
undertook  to  restore  mediaeval  uniformity,  secular  and 
ecclesiastical,  was  not  in  unskilful  hands,  it  was  plain  that 
the  attempt  was  an  absurdity,  that  the  time  for  it  was  gone 
by  for  ever,  that  even  the  greatest  personages  were  not 
equal  to  the  task. 

Recent  events,  therefore,  were  a  great  victory  for  those 
opposition  tendencies  which  were  labouring  to  subdue  the 
mediaeval  spirit  and  institutions.  The  weapon  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  imperial  power,  had  once  again  obtained  the 
ascendancy,  but  it  had  now  sunk  lower  than  ever.  The 
unity  of  the  faith,  which  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  en- 
force by  external  means,  was  broken  up,  and  a  dualism 
established  in  the  Western  Church,  which  it  was  henceforth 
impossible  to  prevent ;  the  nations  were  become  indepen- 
dent, having  burst  the  bonds  of  cabinet  policy.  With  the 
help  of  the  people,  the  reigning  princes  had  just  obtained  a 
complete  victory  for  the  cause  of  religion.  Thus,  all  that 
was  opposed  to  medisevalism  was  completely  in  the  ascen- 
dant. It  was  this  which  gave  a  historical  significance  to 
recent  events,  and  to  the  retreat  of  the  Emperor. 

Late  in  the  autumn  of  1555,  the  peace  which  had  been 
promised,  and  the  preliminaries  of  which  had  been  settled 
at  Passau,  was  concluded  at  Augsburg. 

It  was  based  upon  all  that  had  been  considered  as  merely 
temporary  concession  ever  since  1532.  "  A  peace  shall  be 
established  and  concluded,"  it  was  said,  "  which  shall  be 
permanent,  absolute,  and  unconditional,  and  which  shall 
last  for  ever." 

In  accordance  with  this,  it  was  ordained  by  the  decree  of 
the  Diet,  on  the  251)1  of  September,  1555,  that  neither  his 
imperial  majesty,  nor  electors,  nor  princes,  nor  States,  shall 
offer  violence  to  any  State  on  account  ot  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, or  of  its  religion  or  faith,  nor  in  any  way  molest 
them  on  account  of  this  confession,  or  ecclesiastical  usages 
and  ordinances,  but  leave  them  quietly  alone  in  possession 
of  their  property,  and  religious  differences  shall  only  be 


238  THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 

adjusted  by  peaceful  Christian  methods.  But  the  new 
doctrines  which  were  not  in  accordance  with  the  Augsburg 
Confession  were  not  included  in  this  settlement.  This  was 
specially  aimed  at  the  Reformed  party,  the  followers  of 
Zwingli  and  Calvin,  whose  doctrines  were  now  agitating  a 
great  part  of  the  world. 

Altogether,  there  was  a  good  deal  in  the  Peace  which 
made  it  burdensome  to  both  parties  ;  the  right  to  retain 
their  faith  was  granted  to  the  electors,  princes,  and  states  of 
the  empire,  but  it  was  to  them  only,  not  to  their  subjects. 
The  principle  of  1526,  cuius  regie,  tins  religio,  was  again 
adopted  and  permanently  established.  It  was  not  liberty  of 
conscience  that  was  granted  in  our  sense  of  the  term,  but 
liberty  for  the  governments  to  choose  their  creed.  This 
principle  involved  both  parties  in  difficulty.  The  Protest- 
ants thought,  if  this  is  strictly  carried  out  we  shall  have  no 
security  that  Protestant  subjects  of  Catholic  ecclesiastical 
princes  will  not  be  molested  and  suffer  violence.  They 
therefore  sought  protection  in  a  clause  by  which  it  was  pro- 
vided that  cities,  nobles,  and  districts  which  were  subject  to 
ecclesiastics,  but  had  long  adhered  to  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, should  not  be  compelled  to  renounce  it,  but  should 
be  left  unmolested  until  a  final  settlement  was  arrived  at. 

But  there  was  also  a  difficulty  for  the  Catholic  princes. 
If  the  bishops  took  it  into  their  heads  to  turn  Protestants, 
and  to  secularise  their  bishoprics,  the  result  would  be  the 
same  as  in  the  case  of  Cologne.  To  obviate  this,  Ferdinand 
put  in  the  clause  relating  to  "  ecclesiastical  reservation  " 
(reservatio  ecclesiastica],  which  provided  that  if  an  eccle- 
siastical State  leaves  the  ancient  Church,  its  dignity  and 
honours  remain  undiminished  (honor e  et  fama  illibatis),  biit 
it  is  to  be  deprived  of  its  livings  and  bishoprics. 

The  Peace  of  Augsburg  conceded  the  legal  right  of  the 
two  Churches  to  exist  side  by  side,  and  thus  broke  through 
the  medieval  Church  system. 

A  violent  convulsion  had  taken  place  in  this  and  all  other 
countries,  and  there  was  a  general  impression  that  a  new 
era  was  at  hand. 

It  is  always  difficult  to  trace  the  permanent  results  of  a 
process  of  development.  During  such  transition  periods  all 
things  are  in  a  state  of  growth,  and  they  are  anything  but 
times  of  peaceful  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  gained,  or  of 
objective  contemplation  of  the  changes  taking  place. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  239 

Nevertheless,  certain  great  outlines  were  traced  at  this 
time  to  which  it  took  men  a  long  time  to  become  accus- 
tomed, but  which  undoubtedly  indicated  the  essential  and 
lasting  form  of  a  new  order  of  things. 

Besides  this,  the  temporal  power  had  at  length  obtained 
its  rights.  Political  life  had  freed  itself  from  the  unnatural 
bondage  of  ecclesiastical  fetters,  from  the  unconditional 
subjection  of  the  laity  to  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  its  ex- 
clusive supremacy  in  matters  of  faith.  Education  and  domestic 
life  was  at  an  end.  The  State  regained  its  natural  sovereignty, 
was  in  a  position  to  pursue  its  moral  objects  undisturbed, 
and  within  its  own  sphere  to  reject  all  ecclesiastical  inter- 
ference. The  modern  state,  which  is  utterly  different  from 
that  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and,  in  that  it  has  aims  of  its  own 
to  pursue,  and  is  not  the  tool  of  a  power  external  to  it,  is 
more  like  the  states  of  antiquity,  was  in  embryo,  and  thus  a 
mighty  creation  was  preparing  for  future  times. 

Further,  learning  and  intellectual  life  altogether  had  out- 
grown the  restrictions  of  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  had 
begun  to  take  a  course  of  its  own.  It  need  not  be  said 
that  a  comparatively  large  intellectual  development  was 
possible  even  within  the  old  limits.  No  one,  with  the 
imperishable  monuments  of  mediaeval  art  and  poetry  before 
him,  will  assert  that  intellectual  life  was  slumbering  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  But  its  development  was  one-sided,  and 
those  spheres  which  required  a  freedom  unknown  at  that 
period  received  but  little  or  no  attention.  Mediaeval 
philosophy  was  but  the  handmaid  of  theology,  calculated 
to  cultivate  that  formal  way  of  thinking  which  was  not 
only  subject  to  the  dogmatic  teaching  of  the  Church,  but 
consented  to  verify  it  from  its  own  immutable  principles. 
Whoever  passed  these  limits  was  a  heretic.  Speculative 
thought,  which  is  subject  to  its  own  laws,  and  acknow- 
ledges no  others,  was  incompatible  with  this ;  the  impulse 
to  look  a  newly-discovered  truth  in  the  face,  and  to  investi- 
gate it  unrestrained  by  outward  prohibitions,  was  now  first 
allowed  full  play.  And  with  this  the  first  impulse  to  true 
learning  was  given. 

Free  scope  was  now  for  the  first  time  given  to  historical 
research  into  the  life  of  nations,  to  the  investigation  of  men 
and  things  as  they  really  were,  without  having  a  programme 
prescribed  beforehand ;  and  it  was  the  same  with  the  study 
of  the  natural  world.  It  was  quite  in  the  mediaeval  spirit 


240  THE  REFORMATION  IN   GERMANY. 

that  the  earth  had  been  hitherto  regarded,  as  in  the  Old 
Testament,  as  a  disc,  the  heavens  as  a  shade,  so  to  speak, 
placed  over  it,  and  the  sun  and  stars  as  the  moving  fire- 
balls of  this  stationary  world;  and  it  was  quite  in  the  modern 
spirit  that  these  theories  were  no  longer  heeded,  and  con- 
clusions drawn  from  the  discoveries  of  Columbus  and 
Copernicus  entirely  irrespective  of  them. 

It  is  this  research  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  ex- 
perience and  observation,  in  the  world  of  nature  and  the 
world  of  mind,  that  distinguishes  the  modern  from  the 
mediseval  spirit,  and  the  first  world-wide  impulse  to  it  begins 
with  the  Reformation, 


PART  IV. 

CALVINISM,   AND   THE   BEGINNING  OF  CATHOLIC 
RESTORATION.* 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Calvin's  Youth. — Characteristics  of  the  Man  and  his  System. — The 
"Institutio  Religionis  Christiana,"  1536. — Calvin's  Ecclesiastical 
State  in  Geneva. — The  Attempt,  1536-8. — Success,  1541-64. — 
The  Organization  of  January,  1542. — Ecclesiastical  and  Moral 
Discipline  of  Calvinism,  and  its  Historical  Importance. 

CALVIN'S  YOUTH. — CHARACTERISTICS  OF  HIS  SYSTEM. 

AS  the  German  Reformation  is  connected  with  Martin 
Luther,  and  the  Swiss  with  Ulrich  Zwingli,  that  of  the 
Romanic  and  Western  European  nations  is  connected  with 
John  Calvin,  the  most  remarkable  personage  of  the  time. 
He  was  not  equal  either  to  Luther  or  Zwingli  in  general 
talent,  mental  vigour,  or  tranquillity  of  soul ;  but  in  logical 
acuteness  and  talent  for  organization  he  was  at  least  equal, 
if  not  superior,  to  either.  He  settled  the  basis  for  the 
development  of  many  states  and  churches. 

He  stamped  the  form  of  the  Reformation  in  countries  to 
which  he  was  a  stranger.  The  French  date  the  beginnings 
of  their  literary  development  from  him.  and  his  influence 
was  not  restricted  to  the  sphere  of  religion,  but  embraced 
their  intellectual  life  in  general;  no  one  else  has  so  per- 
manently influenced  the  spirit  and  form  of  their  written 
language  as  he. 

*  Joh.  Calvini  Opera.  Amstelod,  1667.  Johann  Calvins  Leben,  von 
P.  Henry.  Hamburg,  1835.  Weber,  Geschichte  des  Calvinismus, 
1836.  Bungener,  Calvin,  sa  vie,  son  ceuvre  et  ses  ecrits,  1862.  Merle 
d'Aubigne,  Histoire  de  la  Reformation  au  temps  de  Calvin,  I. — II., 
1864-63. 

R 


242  CALVINISM. 

Calvin  was  younger  than  Luther  and  Zwingli  by  almost 
the  term  of  human  life,  and  was  a  child  when  the  first 
reform  movements  began  in  Germany  and  Switzerland. 
He  was  not  the  originator  of  the  idea  of  breaking  away 
from  the  ancient  Church,  and  of  founding  a  new  Christianity 
on  the  basis  of  the  Scriptures.  The  German  and  Swiss 
Reformers  had  the  priority  in  this  respect.  The  revolutionary 
element  especially,  which  was  combined  with  the  Reforma- 
tion, could  not  have  originated  with  him ;  he  belongs  almost 
to  the  second  generation  of  its  representatives. 

Calvin  was  a  pupil  of  the  German  Reformation,  which 
originated  and  pursued  its  course  independently.  But  this 
is  no  reason  for  undervaluing  his  labours ;  and  we  shall  find 
such  an  individuality  stamped  upon  his  acts,  that  we  shall 
recognise  in  them  not  only  their  distinguishing  features,  but 
a  peculiar  greatness  and  significance. 

John  Calvin  was  born  on  the  nth  of  July,  1509,  at 
Noyon,  in  Picardy,  a  province  which  has  produced  several 
of  those  rugged  and  sharply-defined  characters  which  we 
are  not  accustomed  to  look  for  in  France,  where  we  expect 
to  find  more  pliant  and  flexible  natures. 

The  circumstance?!,  of  his  parental  home  could  not  be 
called  unfavourable.  His  father  was  procurator  fiscal  at 
Noyon,  and  gave  his  son  a  good  and  learned  education, 
and  it  was  his  wish  that  he  should  study  secular  jurispru- 
dence. He  knew  nothing  of  the  suffering  during  childhood 
by  which  Luther  was  schooled  and  hardened,  and  was  like- 
wise a  stranger  to  the  bitter  spiritual  conflicts  through  which 
he  passed  in  his  youth.  Calvin  made  acquaintance  with 
the  modern  classical  culture  at  the  best  French  schools, 
received  excellent  instruction  in  Greek  and  Latin,  and  was 
well  prepared  for  the  technical  study  of  jurisprudence.  He 
was  in  possession  of  a  scholarship  from  his  fourteenth  year, 
had  pursued  a  variety  of  studies  at  Paris  and  Bourges,  and 
was  to  complete  them  at  Orleans.  But  here,  as  with  Luther 
at  Erfurt,  a  change  took  place  within  him. 

At  Orleans  the  lawyer  became  a  theologian.  Here  he 
met  with  a  few  men — there  was  a  German  among  them, 
and  others  came  afterwards — who  acquainted  him  with  the 
Wittenberg  doctrines,  and  incited  him  to  investigate  them. 
He  began  to  study  the  Scriptures  and  the  German  reformers, 
and  in  a  few  years  the  transformation  was  complete,  for  he 
never  did  anything  by  halves. 


CALVIN'S  YOUTH.  243 

He  never  disowned  this  German  influence.  While  he 
regarded  Zwingli  with  a  certain  contempt,  he  always  had 
the  greatest  esteem  for  Luther.  His  depth  of  character, 
his  affection  for  the  ancient  Church,  and  reluctant  defection 
from  it,  made  a  deep  impression  upon  him. 

A  brilliant  future  would  have  been  before  him  in  the 
ancient  Church.  Even  in  this  youthful  circle  he  was  consi- 
dered to  possess  great  talent.  He  was  early  distinguished 
for  the  precision  of  his  ideas,  the  acuteness  of  his  words, 
the  true  French  art  of  terse  and  striking  expression — in 
short,  for  his  dialectic  power — and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
his  friends  should  imagine  that  he  would  be  a  great  lawyer 
or  statesman.  But  with  the  cool  determination  which  cha- 
racterized him  all  his  life,  he  renounced  all  these  prospects. 
When  he  devoted  himself  to  theology  an  important  living 
was  conferred  upon  him,  though  he  was  only  eighteen.  But 
after  embracing  the  new  doctrines,  he  renounced  all,  and  at 
once  began  to  preach  his  heretical  convictions. 

The  case  was  very  different  in  France  from  what  it  was 
in  Germany.  There,  various  influences  were  at  work ; 
though  the  Emperor  was  opposed  to  the  new  doctrines, 
the  nation  was  for  the  most  part  in  favour  of  them,  and 
their  spread  was  increased  by  this  schism.  Heretical  ten- 
dencies did  exist  in  France,  but  the  temporal  power,  in  close 
alliance  with  Rome,  did  all  in  its  power  to  stifle  them  in  the 
bud.  Calvin  very  soon  had  to  fly  from  France,  for  even 
the  protection  afforded  him  by  some  influential  people 
could  not  be  permanent.  He  saw  that  those  around  him 
who  professed  the  same  doctrines  were  burnt.  On  the 
advice  of  his  friends,  therefore,  he  went  abroad,  visited 
Italy  and  Germany,  and  passed  some  time  at  Strasburg  and 
Basle.  Here  he  produced  his  first  great  work,  and  a  most 
remarkable  work  it  is,  one  of  the  ripest  products  of  the  age, 
though  written  at  a  time  when  the  first  foundations  of  the 
Reformation  were  already  laid.  It  was  the  "  Institutio 
Christianse  Religionis,"  which  appeared  in  1536.* 

The  book  was  afterwards  translated  into  French.  It  was 
the  first  important  archive  in  French  prose  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  it  has  had  an  immense  influence  upon  the 
literature  of  the  nation.  Calvin's  prose  formed  a  real 
epoch  in  France.  The  fundamental  idea  of  the  work, 

*  Antwerp  edition,  9  vols. 


244  CALVINISM. 

which  first  appeared  in  Latin,  may  be  discovered  from  the 
plan  of  it. 

The  "  Institutio "  consists  of  four  books,  of  which  the 
first,  "  De  Cognitione  Dei  Creatoris,"  treats  of  man's  relation 
to  God  and  of  original  sin  ;  the  second,  "  De  Cognitione  Dei 
Redemptoris,"  of  Christology  and  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Testament ;  the  third,  "  De  Modo  Recipiendas  Christ! 
Gratiae ; "  the  fourth,  "  De  Externis  Mediis,"  of  the  out- 
ward means  of  revelation,  the  Church,  the  sacraments,  and 
the  politico,  administratio. 

This  is  the  structure  of  this  admirable  work.  It  begins 
with  a  profound  discussion  of  all  the  religious  questions 
which  had  been  cleared  of  the  dogmatic  and  scholastic 
rubbish  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  concludes  with  the  consi- 
deration of  outward  means,  the  Christian  congregation,  and 
the  worship  of  God. 

If  we  grant  the  great  dialectician  his  premisses,  we  are 
compelled  to  accept  his  conclusions.  It  is  generally  the 
premisses  which  are  called  in  question.  The  systematic 
construction  of  the  doctrines  of  the  faith  in  the  first  three 
books  is  perhaps  less  interesting  than  the  contents  of 
the  fourth,  in  which  he  refers  to  the  original  form  of  the 
Church,  demonstrates  that  the  hierarchy  has  oppressed  and 
overborne  the  true  Church,  that  it  must  be  restored  on  its 
original  basis,  that  of  the  congregation,  and  therefore  every- 
thing must  be  renounced  which  even  savours  of  the  later 
hierarchical  superstructure. 

Not  less  remarkable  is  the  way  in  which  he  handles  the 
sacraments. 

As  is  well  known,  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  still  take  a  very 
high  place  in  theological  research.  He  is  far  more  logical 
than  Luther,  in  whom  the  first  fermenting  processes  of  the 
Reformation  may  be  traced ;  and  he  is  far  removed  from 
the  moderate  interpretations  of  Zwingli.  His  conception  of 
baptism  and  the  supper  is  deeper  than  Zwingli's,  whose 
symbolical  makeshifts  he  could  not  accept,  and  more  logical 
than  Luther's,  for  he  rejects  transubstantiation.  There  was 
a  touch  of  mystical  speculation  in  it  which  places  him  on  a 
level  with  the  greatest  theological  thinkers.  Zwingli's 
doctrine  was  too  superficial  and  prosaic  for  him,  and  on 
these  points  Calvin's  views  were  more  like  those  of  the 
mediaeval  mystics. 

His  relation  to  the  ancient  Church  was  as  peculiar  as 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  CALVINISM.  245 

that  to  the  new  faith.  He  was  more  bitterly  opposed  to  it 
than  any  one  else.  Passionate  and  cutting  things  had 
indeed  been  said  of  Rome,  but  nothing  so  caishing  had 
been  urged  against  the  Curia  in  the  whole  range  of  polemics 
as  the  attempt  to  prove  that  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  its 
origin  and  growth,  was  utterly  opposed  to  the  true  Church 
of  Christ.  Never  had  the  hierarchical  principle  of  the 
mediaeval  Romish  Church  been  the  subject  of  a  fiercer 
attack  than  by  Calvin's  unimpassioned  and  cold-blooded 
assertion,  that  it  was  utterly  opposed  to  the  original  idea  of 
the  constitution  of  the  Church,  and  he  was  therefore  re- 
garded by  Rome  as  a  more  dangerous  and  implacable  enemy 
than  Luther.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  adhering  to 
the  old  Catholic  principle  in  maintaining  that  Church  and 
State  should  grow  together  into  one,  each  permeated  by  the 
other.  The  hierarchical  principle,  which  he  rejected,  never- 
theless exercised  an  immense  influence  over  him,  with  this 
great  difference,  that  his  hierarchy,  instead  of  growing  out 
of  the  papal  Church  system,  grew  out  of  the  congregation  ; 
the  tree,  as  it  were,  grew  up  from  seed  instead  of  being 
planted.  The  hierarchical  tendency,  love  of  dominion  in 
the  name  of  convictions  which  he  held  to  be  the  only 
right  ones,  was  very  strongly  marked  in  him ;  his  ecclesiasti- 
cal state  was  intended  to  interfere  in  all  the  relations  of  life, 
in  the  family  and  education  ;  it  was  to  rule  public  morals 
with  undisputed  sway,  though  it  was  based  upon  the  demo- 
cracy of  the  congregation. 

Calvin's  historical  significance  lay  in  this,  that  to  the  com- 
pact system  of  ancient  dogmatic  doctrine  he  opposed  a  new 
system  of  religion,  far  more  compact  and  logical  than  that 
of  any  other  Reformer ;  also,  that  in  the  matter  of  Church 
authority  he  more  decidedly  freed  himself  from  Romish 
tradition  than  any  one  else.  It  was  his  wish  to  see  every 
sphere  of  life  under  the  sway  of  an  ecclesiastical  State  ;  only 
the  sovereignty  was  to  be  exercised  by  the  congregation, 
instead  of  by  the  Pope. 

CALVIN'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  STATE  IN  GENEVA,  1536-8 
AND  1541-64. 

Humanly  speaking,  it  was  a  mere  accident  which  cause.  1 
Calvin  to  yield  to  the  entreaties  of  his  friends  to  remain  in  the 
city  where  he  was  to  begin  his  renowned  efforts  in  the 


246  CALVINISM. 

cause  of  reform.  Geneva  had  been  from  ancient  times  one 
of  the  most  flourishing  imperial  cities  of  the  Burgundian 
territory  ;  it  was  situated  on  the  frontiers  of  several  countries 
where  the  cross  roads  of  various  nationalities  met.  The 
city,  which  in  itself  was  remarkable,  belonged  originally  to 
the  German  empire  ;  the  language  of  its  inhabitants  was 
Romanic  ;  it  was  bounded  on  one  side  by  Burgundy,  on 
the  other  by  German  Switzerland ;  was  the  seat  of  a  bishopric; 
and  it  had  in  its  rear  the  secular  power  of  the  ambitious 
dukes  of  Savoy. 

Geneva  was  apparently  in  a  state  of  political,  ecclesiasti- 
cal, and  moral  decay.  With  the  puritanical  strictness  of 
Geneva,  as  it  afterwards  became,  before  the  mind's  eye,  it 
is  difficult  to  picture  the  Geneva  of  that  day.  An  unbridled 
love  of  pleasure,  a  reckless  wantonness,  a  licentious  frivolity 
had  taken  possession  of  Genevan  life,  while  the  State  was 
the  plaything  of  intestine  and  foreign  feuds.  The  influence 
of  the  bishop  generally  predominated  in  the  State,  while  the 
Duke  of  Savoy  extended  the  arm  of  his  temporal  power 
over  the  city,  and  took  pleasure  in  fomenting  the  quarrels 
between  it  and  the  bishop,  in  order  that  he  might  in  the 
end  exchange  the  part  of  a  wily  mediator  for  that  of  ruler 
over  both.  Geneva  had  well-nigh  perished  in  its  luxury, 
pleasure,  and  riches.  In  the  language  of  strict  moralists,  it 
was  a  sort  of  "  Sodom  " — a  commonwealth  torn  in  pieces  by 
party  spirit,  the  independence  of  which  was  endangered. 

Reformers  had  already  appeared  in  the  city  :  Vinet,  Farel, 
Theodore  Beza  ;  they  were  Frenchmen,  Farel  a  near  neigh- 
bour of  Geneva.  These  French  Reformers  are  of  quite  a 
different  stamp  from  our  Germans,  who,  according  as  Luther 
or  Melancthon  is  taken  as  their  type,  have  either  a  plebeian 
popular,  or  learned  theological  character.  They  are  either 
popular  orators  of  great  power  and  little  polish,  or  they 
belong  to  the  learned  circles,  and  keep  strictly  to  this 
character. 

In  France  they  were  mostly  men  belonging  not  to  the 
lower,  but  to  the  middle  and  higher  ranks  of  society,  refined 
and  cultivated ;  and  in  this  fact  lay  the  weakness  of 
Calvinism,  which  knew  well  how  to  rule  the  masses,  but 
never  to  gain  their  affection.  It  was  more  obvious  that  the 
Bezas,  the  Farels,  and  Vinets  were  men  of  refined  and 
polished  culture  than  that  they  were  learned  theologians, 
and  there  was  nothing  whatever  of  the  tribune  about  them ; 


VINET,   FAREL,   BF.ZA.  247 

they  belonged  to  aristocratic  society,  were  elegant  and 
polished  speakers,  and  so  masterly  was  their  power  of  ex- 
pression that  they  were  the  greatest  parliamentary  orators  of 
France. 

Calvin,  though  he  despised  ornament,  possessed  this 
power  also,  and  he  was  the  first  writer  of  that  keen,  logical 
precision,  that  pleasing  simplicity  and  unadorned  terseness, 
which  we  justly  admire  in  the  masters  of  modern  French 
prose. 

His  greatness,  however,  was  shown  in  the  fanatical  zeal 
with  which  he  entered  the  city,  ready  to  stake  his  life  for 
his  cause.  He  began  to  teach,  to  found  a  school,  to  labour 
on  the  structure  which  was  the  idea  of  his  life,  to  introduce 
reforms  in  doctrine,  worship,  the  constitution  and  discipline 
of  the  Church,  and  he  preached  with  that  powerful  elo- 
quence only  possessed  by  those  in  whom  character  and 
teaching  are  in  unison.  The  purified  worship  was  to  take 
place  within  bare,  unadorned  walls  ;  no  picture  of  Christ, 
nor  pomp  of  any  kind,  was  to  disturb  the  aspirations  of  the 
soul.  Life  outside  the  temple  was  also  to  be  a  service  of 
God;  games,  swearing,  dancing,  singing,  worldly  amuse- 
ments, and  pleasure  were  regarded  by  him  as  sins,  as  much 
as  real  vice  and  crime.  He  began  to  form  little  congrega- 
tions, like  those  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Church,  and  it 
need  scarcely  be  said  that  even  in  this  worldly  and  pleasure- 
loving  city  the  apparition  of  this  man,  in  the  full  vigour  of 
life,  all  conviction  and  determination,  half  prophet  and 
half  tribune,  produced  a  powerful  impression. 

The  number  of  his  outward  followers  increased,  but  they 
were  outward  followers  only.  Most  of  them  thought  it 
would  be  well  to  make  use  of  the  bold  Reformer  to  oppose 
the  bishop,  and  that  he  would  find  means  of  establishing  a 
new  and  independent  Church,  but  they  seemed  to  regard 
freedom  as  libertinism.  Calvin  therefore  regarded  the 
course  things  were  taking  with  profound  dissatisfaction ; 
he  was  quite  indifferent  to  the  increasing  number  of  his 
followers,  if  they  continued  as  worldly  as  before,  if  his  strict 
discipline  did  not  take  root,  and  if,  in  spite  of  well-filled 
churches,  things  went  on  as  before,  as  though  his  teaching 
concerned  only  the  outward  man. 

So  he  delivered  some  extremely  severe  sermons,  which 
half  frightened  and  half  estranged  his  hearers;  and  at  Easter, 
1538,  when  the  congregation  came  to  partake  of  the  Lord's 


248  CALVINISM. 

Supper,  he  took  the  unheard-of  step  of  sending  them  all 
back  from  the  altar,  saying,  "  You  are  not  worthy  to  par- 
take of  the  Lord's  body;  you  are  just  what  you  were  before; 
your  sentiments,  your  morals,  and  your  conduct  are  un- 
changed." 

This  was  more  than  could  be  hazarded  without  peril  to 
his  life.  The  effect  was  indescribable  ;  his  own  friends  dis- 
approved of  the  step.  But  that  did  not  dismay  him.  He 
had  barely  time  to  flee  for  his  life,  and  he  had  to  leave 
Geneva  in  a  state  of  transition — a  chaos  which  justified  a 
saying  of  his  own,  that  defection  from  one  Church  is  not 
renovation  by  another. 

He  was  now  once  more  an  exile.  He  wandered  about 
on  the  frontiers  of  his  country,  in  the  German  cities  of 
Strasburg,  Basle,  &c.,  and  we  several  times  meet  with  him 
in  the  religious  discussions  between  1540  and  1550.  Many 
important  works  date  from  this  period  ("  De  Coena,"  and 
the  second  edition  of  the  "  Institutio  ").  It  is  evident  that 
he  was  carrying  on  the  culture  of  his  mind,  but  this  second 
repulse  perhaps  left  a  bitterness  in  his  spirit  which  he  never 
overcame.  Life  did  not  present  itself  to  him  under  a  cheer- 
ful aspect ;  the  understanding  and  logic  were  to  him  all  in 
all ;  the  idea  that  the  great  mission  wherewith  he  was 
entrusted  had  been  frustrated  by  the  frivolity  of  the  masses 
embittered  his  soul. 

But  a  time  came  when  they  wished  him  back  at  Geneva. 
With  the  beginnings  of  the  Calvinistic  transformation  the 
foundations  were  laid  of  greater  liberty  in  municipal  life, 
but  this  was  again  endangered  ;  it  seemed  as  if  morality 
and  liberty  would  perish  together.  There  was  for  three 
years  a  tumult  of  party  strife,  and  it  was  plain  that  Geneva 
would  be  lost  if,  having  forsaken  the  old  Church,  she  refused 
to  belong  to  the  new.  These  were  years  of  bitter  trial. 
Calvin  compared  them  to  the  time  when  the  Lord's  people 
were  in  the  wilderness.  But  a  great  triumph  was  in  store 
for  him,  for  the  people  were  soon  saying  with  one  voice, 
"  Let  us  recall  the  man  who  wished  to  renovate  our  faith, 
our  morals,  and  our  liberties."  An  urgent  request  was  pre- 
ferred to  him  to  return  and  to  become  lawgiver  of  the 
city. 

In  September,  1541,  he  returned,  and  began  his  celebrated 
labours.  Endowed  with  supreme  power,  like  Lycurgus  at 
Sparta,  he  set  to  work  to  make  Geneva  a  city  of  the  Lord — • 


CALVIN'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  STATE.         249 

to  found  an  ecclesiastical  state  in  which  religion,  public  life, 
government,  and  the  worship  of  God  were  to  be  all  of  a 
piece,  and  an  extraordinary  task  it  was.  Calvinistic  Geneva 
became  the  school  of  reform  for  western  Europe,  and 
scattered  far  and  wide  the  germs  of  similar  institutions. 
In  times  when  Protestantism  elsewhere  had  become  cool, 
this  school  carried  on  the  conflict  with  the  medieval 
Church. 

Calvin  was  implacable  in  his  determination  to  purify  the 
worship  of  God  of  all  needless  adjuncts.  All  that  was 
calculated  to  charm  and  affect  the  senses  was  abolished ; 
spiritual  worship  should  be  independent  of  all  earthly 
things,  and  should  consist  of  edification  by  the  word,  and 
simple  spiritual  songs.  All  the  traditional  externals  that 
Luther  had  retained — altars,  pictures,  ceremonials,  and 
decorations  of  every  kind — were  dispensed  with.  It  was 
one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Middle  Ages  that  the 
Church  thought  as  much  of  exciting  the  senses  of  the 
faithful  as  of  promoting  edification  and  religious  feeling, 
and  in  course  of  time  it  might  almost  be  said  without 
injustice  that  the  sensuous  had  gained  the  victory  over  the 
spiritual.  Calvin  laboured  consistently  in  the  contrary 
direction.  When  we  look  at  average  human  nature,  it  is 
quite  open  to  doubt  whether  this  principle  in  all  its  strin- 
gency can  be  permanently  carried  out ;  but  it  was  a  grand 
idea  to  restore  the  almost  extinguished  spiritual  element  in 
religion  to  its  original  supremacy.  It  may  be  objected  that 
it  expects  too  much  of  human  nature,  but  not  that  it  is 
opposed  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity. 

Calvin  next  established  a  system  of  Church  discipline 
which  controlled  the  individual  in  every  relation  of  life,  and 
ruled  him  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  He  retained  all  the 
means  by  which  ecclesiastical  authority  enforced  obedience 
on  the  faithful  in  the  Middle  Ages — baptism,  education  up  to 
confirmation,  penance,  penal  discipline,  and  excommunica-. 
tion.  There  was,  of  course,  no  consecration  of  priests,  and 
he  reduced  the  number  of  sacraments  to  a  minimum ;  but 
no  other  reformer  so  far  demanded  the  sacrifice  of  personal 
freedom ;  and  indeed  on  this  point  he  far  surpassed  the 
ancient  Church,  for  her  theoretical  strictness  was  modified 
"by  indulgences  and  other  latitudinarian  practices,  whereas 
Calvin's  theories  were  carried  out  with  the  utmost  rigour. 
There  was,  however,  one  mitigation  :  they  were  not  im- 


250  CALVINISM. 

posed  by  the  sovereignty  of  an  individual,  but  by  a  minister 
and  administrator  chosen  by  a  self-governing  community. 
It  was  a  great  idea  to  enforce  the  strictest  discipline  and 
entire  subjection,  but  to  enforce  it  in  the  name  of  the  com- 
munity instead  of  by  sovereign  power. 

There  is  no  more  interesting  spectacle  in  history  than 
Calvinism — this  curious  combination  of  the  reformed  and 
mediaeval  Church  system,  of  modern  monarchical  and 
ancient  republican  government. 

Calvin  began  his  labours  late  in  the  autumn  of  1541,  and  he 
acquired  and  maintained  more  power  than  was  ever  exercised 
by  the  most  powerful  popes.  He  was  indeed  only  the 
"  preacher  of  the  word,"  but  through  his  great  influence  he 
was  the  lawgiver,  the  administrator,  the  dictator  of  the 
State  of  Geneva.  There  was  nothing  in  the  commonwealth 
that  had  not  been  ordained  by  him,  and  this  indicates  a 
remarkable  aspect  of  his  character. 

The  organization  of  the  State  of  Geneva  began  with  the 
ordinances  of  the  2nd  of  January,  1542.  There  were  four 
orders  of  officials — pastors,  teachers,  elders,  and  deacons. 
The  Consistory  was  formed  of  the  pastors  and  elders.  The 
pastors  were  to  preach,  teach,  and  distribute  the  sacra- 
ments. Every  candidate  for  the  office  underwent  an 
examination  as  to  whether  he  had  a  sound  knowledge  of 
Scripture,  whether  he  had  the  capacity  for  instructing  the 
people  in  it,  whether  he  was  a  man  of  good  conduct  and 
had  lived  a  blameless  life.  Only  those  who  had  passed  this 
triple  test  were  eligible  by  the  community.  The  duties  of 
pastors  were  precisely  defined.  They  were  to  celebrate  the 
Lord's  Supper  four  times  a  year ;  psalms  were  to  be  sung 
before  and  after  the  sermon.  They  were  to  conduct  the 
education  of  youth,  visit  the  families  to  see  that  no  one 
came  to  the  Lord's  table  ignorantly  cr  unprepared,  and  they 
were  regularly  to  visit  prisoners  and  the  sick. 

It  was  the  special  duty  of  the  Consistory,  which  was  com- 
posed of  the  clergy  and  twelve  laymen,  to  see  that  the 
ordinances  were  duly  observed,  and  it  was  the  supreme 
tribunal  of  morals.  The  twelve  laymen  were  elected  for  a 
year,  by  the  council  of  two  hundred,  on  the  nomination  by 
the  clergy.  The  Consistory  met  every  Thursday  to  see  that 
everything  in  the  church  was  in  order.  They  had  the 
power  of  excommunication,  but  this  only  consisted  in  ex- 
clusion from  the  community  of  the  faithful,  and  the  loss  of 


CALVIN'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  STATE.         251 

the  privilege  of  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  also 
decided  questions  relating  to  marriage.  The  deacons  had 
the  care  of  the  poor  and  of  almsgiving. 

Calvin  himself  was  the  soul  of  the  whole  organization. 
But  he  was  a  cold,  stiff,  almost  gloomy  being,  and  his 
character  produces  a  very  different  impression  from  the 
genial  warmth  of  Luther,  who  could  be  cheerful  and  merry 
with  his  family.  Half  Old  Testament  prophet,  half  repub- 
lican demagogue,  Calvin  could  do  anything  in  his  State,  but 
it  was  by  means  of  his  personal  influence,  the  authority  of 
his  words,  "  the  majesty  of  his  character,"  as  was  said  by  a 
magistrate  of  Geneva  after  his  death.  He  was  to  the  last 
the  simple  minister,  whose  frugal  mode  of  life  appeared  to 
his  enemies  like  niggardliness.  After  a  reign  of  twenty- 
three  years,  he  left  behind  him  the  possessions  of  a  mendi- 
cant monk.  His  poverty  was  his  pride.  The  poor  could 
tell  of  his  kindness  and  generosity,  and  the  city  became 
immensely  rich  under  his  rule ;  he  lived  and  cared  to  live 
only  for  the  good  of  all,  and  it  was  this  that  made  him 
appear  so  majestic,  so  dignified,  to  his  State.  He  was 
not  only  a  dictator  in  his  republic,  but  a  power  in  Europe. 
His  influence  may  be  seen  by  his  correspondence.*  He 
wrote  to  Margaret  of  Valois ;  wrote  opinions  in  detail  for 
the  young  King  Edward  VI.  of  England ;  corresponded 
with  Bullinger,  Melancthon,  Knox;  gave  counsel  to 
Coligny,  Conde,  Jeanne  D'Albret,  the  Duchess  of  Ferrara. 
In  Geneva  he  was  like  a  Samuel,  before  whom  all  prostrated 
themselves ;  in  his  letters  we  observe  the  modest  tone  of 
the  simple  clergyman,  and  yet  the  conscious  pride  of  the 
man  who  had  been  true  to  his  convictions.  His  position 
was  a  regal  and  commanding  one. 

Still  he  had  something  of  the  passion  and  excitability 
which  characterize  his  countrymen.  Though  he  possessed 
great  self-control,  and  was  generally  calm  and  cold,  yet 
when  opposite  opinions  were  broached  to  those  which  ruled 
his  life,  his  rage  vented  itself  in  fearful  storms ;  the  hierarch, 
the  reformed  pope,  the  Old  Testament  prophet,  in  him 
broke  out,  crushing  all  that  came  in  his  way ;  mostly,  how- 
ever, he  was  temperate,  and  even  conciliatory,  to  his 
opponents. 

His  treatment  of  Servetus  is  a  case  in  point.    Servetus 

*  Edited  by  Bonnet.    Paris,  1854. 


252  CALVINISM. 

honestly  held  an  opposite  theological  opinion,  and  defended 
it  with  the  zeal  of  a  martyr,  and  Calvin  had  him  burnt  as 
heretics  were  burnt  in  the  Middle  Ages.  This  is  the  darkest 
spot  in  his  life,  and  nothing  can  efface  it. 

To  explain  his  power  we  must  view  his  character  as  a 
whole.  The  republic  which  he  governed  had,  before  his 
time,  been  frivolous  and  dissolute ;  it  now  became  a  pattern 
of  gloomy  puritanical  strictness.  He  ruled  by  his  irre- 
proachable life,  by  the  majesty  of  his  unselfishness,  but  also 
by  the  crushing  weight  of  his  irresistible  will,  and,  in  case  of 
need,  by  the  terrors  of  fanaticism.  His  Christian  republic 
was  a  theocracy  after  the  pattern  of  the  Old  Testament ;  he 
did  not  want  the  Church  to  rule  the  State  nor  the  State  the 
Church  ;  the  State  was  so  entirely  to  comprehend  the  Church 
that  the  boundary  line  between  them  should  disappear.  It 
is  plain  that  a  system  like  this  could  only  be  carried  out, 
even  in  a  small  State,  by  the  moral  power  of  an  excep- 
tionally energetic  individual  will.  Calvin  solved  this  great 
problem  in  the  period  between  1541-61,  and  at  the  end 
of  nearly  three  centuries  the  system  remained  in  the  same 
grooves — the  stamp  which  he  impressed  upon  the  people 
was  uneffaced,  and  more  than  a  century  after  his  death  the 
features  of  the  Geneva  school  were  plainly  distinguishable. 

No  other  reformer  established  so  rigid  a  church  disci- 
pline. He  wished  that  it  should  effect  a  transformation  in 
every  sphere  of  life,  and  he  was  in  no  way  influenced  by 
the  more  liberal  views  which  Luther  and  Zwingli  took  of 
these  things. 

Even  as  early  as  1536  he  appeared  as  a  reformer  of 
morals, *  with  a  novel  view  of  crime,  and  enforcing  exem- 
plary strictness  in  punishment.  It  has  already  been  men- 
tioned that  all  noisy  games,  games  of  chance,  dancing, 
singing  of  profane  songs,  cursing  and  swearing,  were 
forbidden,  and  that  church-going  and  Sabbath-keeping  were 
strictly  enjoined.  The  moral  police  took  account  of  every- 
thing. Every  citizen  had  to  be  at  home  by  nine  o'clock, 
under  heavy  penalties.  Adultery,  which  had  previously 
been  punished  by  a  few  days'  imprisonment  and  a  small 
fine,  was  now  punished  by  death ;  an  adulteress  was 
actually  drowned  in  the  Rhone,  and  two  adulterers  be- 
headed. It  was  forbidden  to  swear  even  at  animals.  A 

*  Schenkel,  Wesen  des  Protestantismus. 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  CALVINISM.    253 

child  that  had  abused  its  mother  was  put  upon  bread  and 
water ;  another  that  had  thrown  stones  at  its  mother,  pub- 
licly whipped  and  hung  up  to  the  gallows  by  its  arms ;  and 
one  that  had  struck  its  parents  was  executed.  Sensual  sins 
were  generally  punished  by  drowning;  singing  profane 
songs,  by  banishment ;  a  woman  was  publicly  whipped  for 
singing  a  worldly  song  to  a  psalm  tune,  and  an  educated 
man  who  was  caught  reading  Poggio's  licentious  tales,  im- 
prisoned ;  any  one  found  playing  cards  was  condemned  to 
stand  in  the  pillory  with  the  cards  round  his  neck.  The 
ancient  festivities  at  weddings  were  entirely  done  away 
with ;  no  drums  or  music  were  allowed  in  the  processions, 
no  dancing  at  the  feast.  The  theatre  was  interdicted  except 
when  Biblical  scenes  were  represented ;  novel  reading  was 
entirely  forbidden,  and  if  any  one  wrote  anything  objec- 
tionable he  was  sent  to  prison. 

Thus  the  Reformed  Church  discipline  was  carried  out  with 
the  same  consistency  and  rigidity  as  in  the  old  monastic 
life,  and  the  consequences  of  so  unnatural  a  state  of  things 
were  not  unknown  in  this  case. 

CALVINISTIC  DISCIPLINE  AND  ITS  HISTORICAL 
SIGNIFICANCE. 

Man  was  not  placed  in  the  world  to  torment  himself 
with  penances  and  flagellations ;  though  not  intended  to  be 
an  abode  of  pleasure,  pleasure  ought  not  to  be  banished 
from  it.  Luther  saw  this  plainly,  and  did  not  despise  cheer- 
ful recreation,  but  considered  it  a  part  of  Christian  life. 
The  world  was  not  intended  to  be  made  a  prayer-meeting, 
and  he  who  tries  to  make  it  so  is  in  danger  of  sowing  the 
seeds  of  mere  outward  sanctity — in  other  words,  of  hypo- 
crisy. Extreme  views  of  this  sort — a  certain  Methodistical 
piety  which  takes  a  pride  in  renouncing  every  innocent 
enjoyment,  and  in  gloomy  views  of  life — have  always  been 
united  with  Calvinism. 

Still  it  is  undeniable  that  it  was  of  great  importance, 
especially  for  that  period. 

This  mode  of  treating  the  world  and  men  was  not  so 
much  Christian,  as  Spartan  or  ancient  Roman.  No  one  will 
maintain  that  all  mankind  can  be  ruled  and  trained  by  these 
means ;  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  within  certain  limits  it 
produced  vigorous  characters,  men  of  self-denying  devotion 


254  CALVINISM. 

and  heroic  courage,  and  in  this  fact  lay  the  importance  of 
Calvin's  pattern  State. 

A  school  of  men  was  to  be  trained,  who,  temperate  and 
vigorous,  despising 'both  the  pleasures  and  temptations  of 
life,  should  be  prepared  to  make  great  sacrifices  and  to  per- 
form great  deeds  for  the  sake  of  an  idea  of  world-wide  sig- 
nificance ;  and  the  effect  produced  by  this  school,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  was  really  astounding.  Life  in  Geneva 
was  entirely  transformed  ;  the  previous  bustling  activity  was 
replaced  by  solemn,  priestly  earnestness  ;  the  old  frivolity 
disappeared ;  magnificence  in  attire  was  no  longer  thought 
of;  nothing  was  heard  of  dances  or  masquerades ;  the  taverns 
and  theatre  were  empty,  the  churches  crowded  :  a  tone  of 
devout  piety  pervaded  the  city. 

And  this  school  extended  itself  as  a  mighty  propaganda  ; 
we  find  its  influence  among  the  French  and  Dutch  Cal- 
vinists,  and  especially  among  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  and 
English  Puritans,  who  are  offshoots  of  the  Genevan  parental 
tree. 

At  a  time  when  Europe  had  no  solid  results  of  reform  to 
show,  this  little  State  ot  Geneva  stood  up  as  a  great  power; 
year  by  year  it  sent  forth  apostles  into  the  world,  who 
preached  its  doctrines  everywhere,  and  it  became  the  most 
dreaded  counterpoise  to  Rome,  when  Rome  no  longer  had 
any  bulwark  to  defend  her. 

The  missionaries  from  this  little  community  displayed  the 
lofty  and  dauntless  spirit  which  results  from  a  stoical  educa- 
tion and  training ;  they  bore  the  stamp  of  a  self-renouncing 
heroism  which  was  elsewhere  swallowed  up  in  theological 
narrowness.  They  were  a  race  with  vigorous  bones  and 
sinews,  for  whom  nothing  was  too  daring,  and  who  gave  a 
new  direction  to  Protestantism  by  causing  it  to  separate 
itself  from  the  old  traditional  monarchical  authority,  and  to 
adopt  the  gospel  of  democracy  as  part  of  its  creed. 

It  formed  a  weighty  counterpoise  to  the  desperate  efforts 
which  the  ancient  Church  and  monarchical  power  were 
making  to  crush  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation. 

It  was  impossible  to  oppose  Caraffa,  Philip  II.,  and  the 
Stuarts,  with  Luther's  passive  resistance  ;  men  were  wanted 
who  were  ready  to  wage  war  to  the  knife,  and  such  was  the 
Calvinistic  school.  It  everywhere  accepted  the  challenge ; 
throughout  all  the  conflicts  for  political  and  religious  liberty, 
up  to  the  time  of  the  first  emigration  to  America,  in  France, 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  CALVINISM.    255 

the  Netherlands,  England,  and  Scotland,  we  recognise  the 
Genevan  school.  A  little  bit  of  the  world's  history  was 
enacted  in  Geneva,  which  forms  the  proudest  portion  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  A  number  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  in  France,  the  Netherlands,  and 
Great  Britain  professed  her  creed ;  they  are  sturdy,  gloomy 
souls,  iron  characters  cast  in  one  mould,  in  which  there  was 
an  interfusion  of  Romanic,  Germanic,  mediaeval,  and  modern 
elements  ;  and  the  national  and  political  consequences  of 
the  new  faith  were  carried  out  by  them  with  the  utmost 
rigour  and  consistency. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Reformation  and  Restoration  in  Italy. — Division  of  Opinion  among 
the  People. — Vacillation  of  the  Curia. — Opinion  of  the  Cardinals 
on  Reform  in  1537. — Conciliatory  Attitude  till  1541. — The  Council 
of  Trent  and  tne  Catholic  Restoration. — First  Meeting  of  the 
Council,  December,  1545-7. — Rudeness  of  the  Curia  to  the  Em- 
peror and  Protestants.  —  Second  Meeting,  May,  1551. —  Pope 
Paul  IV.  (Caraffa),  1555-9.  Third  Meeting,  January,  1562,  to  the 
end  of  1563. — Pope  Pius  IV.,  1559-65. — Progress  and  Results  of 
the  Negotiation. —  Increased  Consolidation  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Power. —  Precautions  against  Sectarianism. —  Reconstruction  of 
the  Shattered  Religious  System. — Improvement  in  the  Intellectual 
and  Moral  Training  of  the  Clergy. 

ITALY  AND  THE  REFORMATION.* 

*"  I AHE  conflict  with  the  hierarchy  did  not  take  the  same  form 
J-  in  Italy  as  elsewhere ;  there  were  two  opposite  opinions 
on  the  subject.  According  to  one,  the  national  and  historical 
existence  of  Italy  was  closely  bound  up  with  the  hierarchy ; 
according  to  the  other,  which  was  held  by  Machiavelli,  the 
hierarchy  was  fatal  to  Italian  liberties.  The  former  opinion 
was  far  the  most  widely  prevalent.  It  was  nothing  to  the 
Italians  that  foreign  nations  complained  of  the  oppression 
of  the  hierarchy.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  masses  saw 
no  cause  for  discontent  under  it.  We  have  proof  that  the 
hierarchy  was  popular — that  among  the  people,  down  to  the 
lowest  grades,  the  undiminished  splendour  of  the  Papacy 
was  looked  upon  as  a  pledge  of  the  power  of  Italy. 

But  this  did  not  prevent  reform  movements  from  taking 
place.  The  Humanistic  school  had  its  home  here  ;  its  op- 
position tendencies  had  not  spared  the  Church  any  more 
than  Scholasticism  ;  it  had  everywhere  been  the  precursor 
and  ally  of  the  intellectual  revolt,  and  not  the  least  in  Italy. 
There  were  from  the  first  eminent  individuals  at  Venice, 

*  Ranke,  Fiirsten  und  Volker.     3  Auflage.     1854. 


THE  CARDINALS  ON  REFORM.  257 

Modena,  Ferrara,  Florence,  even  in  the  States  of  the  Church 
themselves,  who  were  more  or  less  followers  of  Luther. 

The  cardinals  Contarini  and  Morone,  Bembo  and  Sadolet, 
distinguished  preachers  like  Peter  Martyr,  Johann  Valdez, 
and  Bernardino  Occhino,  and  from  among  the  princely 
families  an  intellectual  lady,  Renata  of  Ferrara,  were  inclined 
to  the  new  doctrines.  But  they  were  leaders  without  fol- 
lowers ;  the  number  of  their  adherents  among  the  masses 
was  surprisingly  small.* 

The  Roman  Curia,  under  the  Pontificate  of  Paul  III., 
1534-49,  vacillated  in  its  policy  for  a  time;  between 
1537-41,  the  prevailing  sentiments  were  friendly  and  con- 
ciliatory towards  Reform.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  famous 
book  appeared,  "  Del  Beneficio  di  Giesu  Cristo  Crocifisso  " 
(The  Benefit  of  Christ's  Death),  which  acquainted  the 
Italians  with  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith, 
and  obtained  an  unexampled  success  among  the  reading 
world,  i540.t 

They  were,  in  fact,  gravely  entertaining  the  question  at 
Rome,  whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  come  to  terms  with 
Reform,  to  adopt  the  practicable  part  of  its  programme,  and 
so  put  an  end  to  the  schism  which  was  spreading  so  fast  in 
the  Church.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  short  episode  in 
the  papal  policy  occurred  to  which  the  opinion  pronounced 
by  the  cardinals  of  1537  affords  lasting  testimony. 

As  a  confession  by  the  Church  of  its  need  of  reform,  this 
document  must  engage  a  moment's  attention. 

It  was  openly  acknowledged  that  the  Popes  had  often 
selected  servants,  not  that  they  might  leani  from  the  Popes 
the  duties  required  of  them,  but  that  the  Popes  might  have 
things  which  they  lusted  after  proclaimed  as  allowable.  Out 
of  the  adulation  which  followed  upon  the  heels  of  every 
princely  appointment,  the  doctrine  had  been  established 
that  the  Pope  was  lord  of  all  things  in  the  Church,  and  that 
the  reproach  of  simony  could  not  be  applied  to  him.  A 
vast  number  of  abuses  had  arisen  from  this  source. 

The  cardinals  acknowledged  in  general  terms  that  the 

*  "  Reform  without  schism  "  may  be  called  the  ideal  of  the  Italian 
Reformers  of  that  age  ;  it  is  shewn  by  A.  Bonnet,  in  the  life  of  Aonio 
Paleario,  that  they  had  more  followers  among  the  people  than  is  gene- 
rally supposed. — ED. 

t  It  is  perfectly  clear  to  me  that  Paleario  could  not  be  the  author  of 
this  work,  from  comparing  the  style  with  his  mode  of  expression  in  his 
Discourses. 

S 


258  ITALY  AND  THE  REFORMATION. 

causes  of  schism  did  not  lie  so  much  in  any  opposition  to 
the  Church,  as  in  the  state  of  the  Church  itself,  from  the 
disastrous  abuses  connected  with  the  doctrine  of  the  papal 
supremacy.  This  was  indeed  a  striking  confirmation  of 
what  the  great  Reform  party  beyond  Italy  had  been  saying 
and  writing  for  years  about  the  disease  and  cure  of  the 
Church. 

And  they  really  desired  reform.  The  mode  of  granting 
benefices,  plurality  of  spiritual  offices,  simony,  reversions  and 
commendams,  the  system  of  dispensations,  the  demoralisa- 
tion in  monasteries,  the  financial  system  of  the  Curia,  the 
degraded  lives  of  the  clergy ; — all  these  were  enumerated  as 
spots  which  required  cleansing,  and  it  amounted  to  very 
much  the  same  as  what  had  been  demanded  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Reformation.  The  effect  of  this  document  may 
be  traced  for  some  years,  especially  in  the  conciliatory  tone 
which  was  adopted  by  the  Curia  at  the  religious  discussions 
in  Germany,  in  1540-41.  An  honest  desire  then  still  pre- 
vailed to  effect  a  reconciliation.  Contarini  was  in  favour  of 
it  with  his  whole  soul.  But  it  proceeded  no  farther  than  the 
attempt ;  for  once  the  differences  seemed  likely  to  be 
adjusted,  so  far  as  this  was  possible;  but  in  1542,  the  re- 
vulsion took  place,  which  was  never  again  reversed. 

Only  one  result  remained.  The  Pope  could  no  longer 
refuse  to  summon  a  council.  The  Emperor  had  been 
urging  it  year  after  year;  the  Pope  had  acceded  to  it 
further  than  any  of  his  predecessors  had  done ;  and,  con- 
sidering the  retreat  which  now  took  place,  this  concession 
was  the  least  that  could  be  demanded. 

At  length,  therefore,  three  years  after  it  was  convened,  in 
May,  1542,  the  council  assembled  at  Trent  in  December, 
1545- 

THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT*  AND  THE  CATHOLIC 
RESTORATION. 

It  was  the  Emperor's  great  desire  that  a  council  should 
be  held  in  Germany,  that  thus  the  confidence  of  the  Ger- 
mans in  the  supreme  tribunal  in  the  great  controversy  might 

*  Historia  del  Concilio  Tridentino  di  Pietro  Soave  Polano  (Paolo 
Sarpi),  1619 — often  translated  into  Latin,  French,  and  German.  On  the 
other  side :  Storia  del  Concilio  di  Trento,  scritta  dal  Padre  Sforza 
Pallavicini,  1656.  J.  H.  von  Wessenberg,  Die  grossen  Kirchen- 
versammlungen  des  15  und  16  Centurie.  1840. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.  259 

be  gained;  but  the  selection  of  Trent,  which  nominally 
belonged  to  Germany,  was  the  utmost  concession  that  could 
be  obtained. 

The  intentions  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope  with  regard 
to  the  council  were  entirely  opposed  to  each  other.  The 
Pope  was  determined  to  stifle  all  opposition  in  the  bud, 
while  the  Emperor  was  very  desirous  of  having  a  counter- 
poise to  the  Pope's  supremacy  in  council,  provided  always 
that  it  concurred  in  the  imperial  programme. 

The  very  commencement  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
council  was  indicative  of  the  position  taken  by  the  Papal 
Chair.  The  council  was  opened  on  i3th  of  December, 
1545,  by  Marcellus  Cervinus,  Johann  del  Monte,  and 
Reginald  Pole,  as  Papal  legates.  Their  first  step  was  an 
attempt  to  set  aside  the  declaration,  Quod  concilium  potesta- 
tem  immediate  a  Christ o  habeat,  &c.,  in  which  they  were  in 
the  main  successful.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  assembly, 
it  was  then  stated  that  the  legates  could  not  decide  on  any 
resolution  without  the  consent  of  the  Pope.  The  plan  of 
voting  according  to  nations  was  also  set  aside,  and  it  was 
expressly  stated  that  they  were  not  at  Constance  or  Basle, 
and  that  the  Pope,  as  represented  by  his  legates,  had  the 
pre-eminence. 

All  the  proceedings  were  so  arranged  that  the  entire 
conduct  of  them  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Curia.  As  before 
stated,*  the  Emperor's  wish  that  those  questions  might  be 
first  considered  on  which  Catholics  and  Protestants  were 
agreed,  was  entirely  set  aside,  and  Rome  insisted  that  the 
very  questions  on  which  they  most  differed  should  be  first 
brought  forward,  and  they  were  handled  in  a  spirit  which 
made  any  understanding  as  difficult  as  possible. 

It  was  only  on  one  point  that  the  assembly  could  be  said 
to  be  in  any  way  influenced  by  the  new  doctrines,  namely, 
on  the  subject  of  justification.  The  doctrine  was  not  again 
put  forth  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of  Tetzel's  bare- 
faced sale  of  indulgences  ;  it  was  quietly  essentially  altered. 
Not  that  Luther's  doctrine  was  adopted,  but  an  intelligible 
compromise  was  sought  between  Pelagianism  and  Augus- 
tinian  one-sidedness,  and  a  middle  course  was  adopted 
which  gave  some  scope  for  justification  by  faith,  but  in 
which  the  doctrine  of  good  works  was  also  retained  in  a 
way  which  Luther  would  never  have  approved. 
•  Page  219. 


260  ITALY  AND  THE  REFORMATION. 

This  occupied  a  considerable  time.  The  Emperor  had 
hoped  that  reforms  would  have  been  introduced  calculated 
to  put  an  end  to  schism,  instead  of  which  modern  errors  were 
met  by  the  dogmatic  assertion  of  the  absolute  correctness 
of  the  old  doctrines.  "  Ours  is  the  true  teaching,"  it  was 
said;  "  your  pretended  interpretations  are  nothing  to  us." 

Nevertheless  some  reforms  were  carried  out.  Between 
the  time  of  meeting  and  adjournment,  December,  1545,  to 
the  spring  of  1547,  the  following  were  the  main  points 
decided  on : — 

1.  The  bishops  were   to   provide    better   teachers   and 
better  schools. 

2.  The  bishops  should  themselves  expound  the  word  of 
God. 

3.  Penalties  were  to  be  enforced  for  the  neglect  of  their 
duties,  and  various  rules  were  laid  down  as  to  the  necessary 
qualifications   for   the  office  of  a  bishop.     Dispensations, 
licenses,  and  privileges  were  abolished. 

The  Church  was  therefore  to  be  subjected  to  a  reform 
which  abolished  sundry  abuses,  without  conceding  any 
change  in  her  teaching. 

The  course  the  council  was  taking  excited  the  Emperor's 
extreme  displeasure.  He  considered  that  this  agitation  of 
disputed  points  was  a  challenge  to  him  and  his  plans,  and 
that  there  was  not  much  sincerity  in  the  plans  for  reform. 
They  were  too  much  bent  on  condemning  the  heretics,  and 
too  little  on  improving  the  Church. 

The  consequence  was  that  the  Emperor  began  to  make 
his  influence  felt  in  the  council.  He  organized  a  sort  of 
opposition  to  Rome  ;  his  commissaries  kept  up  a  good 
understanding  with  the  Protestants,  and  it  was  evident  that 
he  meant  to  make  use  of  them  for  an  attack  on  the  Pope. 
This  made  Rome  eager  to  withdraw  the  assembly  from  the 
influence  of  German  bishops  and  imperial  agents  as  soon  as 
possible.  A  fever  which  had  broken  out  at  Trent,  but  had 
soon  disappeared,  was  made  a  pretext  for  transferring  the 
council  to  Bologna  in  the  spring  of  1547.  The  imperial 
commissioners  protested  that  the  decrees  of  such  a  hole- 
and-corner  council  would  be  null  and  void. 

The  contest  remained  undecided  for  years.  Paul  III. 
died  in  the  midst  of  it,  in  November,  1549,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Cardinal  del  Monte,  one  of  the  papal  legates  at 
the  council,  as  Pope  Julius  III.  The  Emperor  at  length 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.         261 

came  to  an  understanding  with  him,  and  in  May,  1551,  the 
council  was  again  opened  at  Trent.  The  Emperor's  position 
in  Germany  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  be  at  peace  with 
the  Pope,  and  peace  was  restored  just  as  the  heaviest  storm 
of  all  broke  over  him  in  Germany,  by  the  ecclesiastical  and 
political  rebellion  organized  against  him  by  Prince  Maurice ; 
and  but  little  help  in  withstanding  this  could  be  looked  for 
from  the  assembly  at  Trent.  The  assembly  remained 
Catholic ;  the  Protestant  elements,  which  were  represented 
at  first,  all  disappeared  after  the  turn  of  affairs  in  1552. 
After  that  there  was  no  further  thought  of  an  understanding 
with  the  heretics.  The  results  for  reform  were  very  small 
indeed.  The  proceedings  were  dragging  wearily  on  when 
a  fresh  adjournment  was  announced  in  1552.  Pope 
Julius  III.  died  in  March,  1555.  His  successor,  the  noble 
Cardinal  Cervin,  elected  as  Marcellus  II.,  died  after  only 
twenty-two  days,  and  was  succeeded  by  Cardinal  Caraffa  as 
Paul  IV.,  1555-9. 

Just  when  all  hope  was  given  up  in  Germany  of  bringing 
the  heretics  peaceably  back,  this  new  Pope  was  elected  from 
the  house  of  Caraffa.  The  idea  now  was  to  reorganize  the 
ancient  Church,  to  establish  it  on  a  firmer  foundation,  and 
to  surround  it  by  a  more  secure  fence,  even  if  within  nar- 
rower limits,  before  any  fresh  attempt  was  made  to  convert 
the  heretics.  Paul  IV.  was  the  impersonation  of  this  idea. 
He  was  the  Pope  of  the  restoration.  The  warm  Neapolitan 
blood  flowed  in  his  veins,  and  he  was  a  fiery,  energetic 
character.  He  was  not  in  favour  of  any  concessions  or 
abatement,  but  for  a  complete  breach  with  the  new  doc- 
trines, and  a  thorough  exclusiveness  for  the  ancient  Church. 

He  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  time.  As  early  as 
in  1542  he  had  advised  that  no  further  concessions  should 
be  made,  but  that  the  Inquisition,  of  which  indeed  he  was 
the  creator,  should  be  restored.  It  was  he  who  decidedly 
initiated  the  great  Catholic  reaction.  He  established  the 
Spanish  Inquisition  in  Italy,  instituted  the  first  Index,  and 
gave  the  Jesuits  his  powerful  support  in  the  interests  of  the 
restoration. 

This  turn  of  affairs  was  the  answer  to  the  German 
religious  Peace.  Since  the  Protestants  no  longer  con- 
cerned themselves  about  Rome,  Rome  was  about  to  set  her 
house  in  order  without  them,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  the 
council  stood  still. 


262  ITALY  AND  THE  REFORMATION. 

Paul  IV.  openly  said  that  the  reforms  which  he  had 
promised  could  be  made  without  a  council,  and,  if  possible, 
it  was  his  intention  to  ward  them  off  altogether.  But  there 
were  difficulties  in  the  way  of  this.  The  temporal  Catholic 
princes  themselves,  whose  orthodoxy  was  beyond  question, 
the  kings  of  France  and  Spain,  King  Ferdinand,  and  the 
Duke  of  Bavaria,  had  made  definite  demands  for  reform, 
respecting  the  rights  of  the  national  Churches,  the  election 
of  bishops,  protection  against  the  fiscal  arts  of  Rome,  and 
even  on  such  points  as  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy.  These 
demands  gave  rise  to  all  sorts  of  contests,  and  the  result 
was  that  the  council  was  convened  afresh  by  the  next  Pope, 
Pius  IV.  (1559-65),  in  November,  1560,  and  so  the  Council 
of  Trent  was  opened  for  the  third  time  in  January,  1562. 

Then  began  the  important  period  of  the  council,  during 
which  the  legislation  to  which  it  has  given  a  name  was  en- 
acted. When  it  first  met  it  might  have  been  thought  that  the 
Protestants  might  have  been  won  over  by  one  concession  or 
another,  but  there  was  no  thought  of  this  now  ;  the  sole  idea 
was  to  endow  the  ancient  Church  with  fresh  power,  to  sur- 
round her  with  more  impenetrable  and  permanent  bulwarks. 
No  counteracting  influence,  such  as  had  once  been  exer- 
cised by  Charles  V.,  could  be  looked  for  from  any  temporal 
prince.  The  Curia  reigned  supreme,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  of  the  Emperor  and  of  France,  decided  that 
the  council  should  be  considered  a  continuation  of  the  pre- 
vious ones,  which  meant — "  All  the  decrees  aimed  against 
the  Protestants  are  in  full  force ;  we  have  no  further  idea  of 
coming  to  terms  with  them."  The  next  proceeding  was  to 
interdict  books  and  arrange  an  Index. 

Distinguished  and  gifted  ecclesiastics  contended  with 
great  energy  for  the  divine  origin  and  consequent  inviola- 
bility of  ecclesiastical  authority  as  opposed  to  the  demands 
of  the  temporal  rulers,  which  at  first  gave  rise  to  stormy 
scenes.  The  most  eminent  among  them  was  Jacob  Lainez, 
the  second  general  and  special  .organizer  of  the  order  of 
the  Jesuits. 

He  was  the  leader  of  the  ultra-Romanising  party,  and 
the  most  earnest  representative  of  the  view  that  it  was  of 
the  first  moment  to  strengthen  anew  the  foundations  of  the 
rock  of  St.  Peter,  the  unity  of  the  authority  of  the  Church 
as  instituted  by  God.  The  Church,  he  said,  is  eternal ;  she 
is  based  upon  divine,  not  human  laws,  while  States  are  the 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.  263 

creations  of  man,  transitory  and  variable  according  to  his 
fancy.     "The  Church  did  not  make  herself,  neither  did 
she  institute  her  own  government ;  but  Christ,  her  ruler  and 
monarch,   first   gave   her   laws.     States,  on   the   contrary, 
founded  their  governments  on  liberty ;  all  power  was  ori-     . 
ginally  in  the  hands  of  the  commonalties,  who  entrusted  it 
to  their  rulers,  without,  however,  depriving  themselves  of    | 
power."  *    In  their  zeal  to  establish  the  essential  differences    ' 
between   Church  and  State,  these    Romanists    adopt   the    <' 
doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.     Bellarmini  is  in 
agreement  with  Lainez  when  he  says,  "  It  is  obvious  that 
it  depends  upon  the  multitude  whether  they  have  a  king, 
consuls,  or  other  officials  as  rulers,  and  if  they  have  a  legiti- 
mate reason  they  can  change  a  monarchical  for  an  aristo- 
cratic government,  as  was  the  case  in  the  history  of  ancient 
Rome." 

And  the  views  of  the  Romanists  prevailed.  The  restora- 
tion of  the  indisputable  authority  of  the  Pope  was  the  ruling 
principle  of  all  the  decrees ;  what  was  done  for  the  cause  of 
Reform  was  as  nothing  compared  with  what  was  required, 
and  was  overruled  by  the  reservation  in  favour  of  the  papal 
authority,  to  which  all  decisions  as  to  the  abolition  of 
abuses  were  referred.  Paul  IV.  was  right  when  he  said 
that  "  the  fathers  in  the  council  had  been  so  moderate  in 
the  matter  of  reform,  and  so  considerate  of  him,  that  reform 
would  have  been  carried  much  further  if  he  had  undertaken 
it  himself." 

The  great  achievement  of  the  council  for  the  unity  of 
the  Catholic  Church  was  this  :  it  formed  into  a  code  of 
laws,  on  one  consistent  principle,  that  which  in  ancient 
times  had  been  variable  and  uncertain,  and  which  had  been 
almost  lost  sight  of  in  the  last  great  revolution.  Con- 
troverted questions  were  replaced  by  dogmas,  doubtful 
traditions  by  definite  doctrines;  a  uniformity  was  established 
in  matters  of  faith  and  discipline  which  had  never  existed 
before,  and  an  impregnable  bulwark  was  thus  erected  against 
the  sectarian  spirit  and  the  tendency  to  innovation. t 

Still  when  this  unity  was  established  upon  a  solid  basis, 
the  universal  Church  of  former  times  was  torn  asunder, 
for  a  portion  of  the  West  had  escaped  from  the  fold, 
including  some  of  those  who  had  been  formerly  some 
of  the  most  faithful  sons  of  the  Catholic  Church.  It  was 
*  Ranke,  Zeiuchrift.  f  Wessenberg.  Ranke. 


?64  ITALY  AND  THE  REFORMATION. 

only  the  Spanish  and  Italian  peninsulas  which  were  still 
unconditionally  subject  to  her,  for  even  France  was  only 
partially  so,  but  within  this  circumscribed  area  the  papal 
dominion  was  more  firmly  established  than  ever:  its  in- 
dependence of  councils  was  more  unequivocally  declared 
than  it  had  ever  been  in  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  settled 
for  ever  that  demands  like  those  made  at  Constance  and 
Basle,  attempts  at  national  reform,  like  the  mighty  efforts 
lately  made,  were  illegal. 

What  the  Church  gained  by  these  means  in  solidity 
and  compactness  was  almost  enough  to  indemnify  her  for 
her  losses.  Her  foundations  were  now  laid  in  a  rigid 
organization,  to  depart  from  which  would  be  to  alter  her 
essential  character.  The  variety,  the  manifold  forms  of 
culture,  the  free  development  of  differences  to  which  the 
new  doctrines  afforded  free  scope,  were  incompatible  with 
the  vital  principles  of  this  Church.  A  clear,  indisputable 
legal  foundation  was  thus  for  the  first  time  created  for  the 
Catholic  Church,  her  authority,  her  laws,  and  their  adminis- 
tration. Canon  law  had  hitherto  developed  itself  histori- 
cally, and  there  could  not  fail  to  be  contradictions  arising 
out  of  the  various  periods  at  which  its  statutes  had  ori- 
ginated, and  obscurities  which  gave  rise  to  doubts.  It 
was  these  weaknesses  which  had  furnished  the  innovators 
with  so  many  points  of  attack;  want  of  coherence  and 
consistency  was  the  weakest  point  of  a  Church  which  ex- 
pressly boasted  of  possessing  these  advantages.  At  Trent 
she  received  a  consistent  and  elaborate  code  of  laws,  which 
when  possible,  put  an  end  to  the  contradictions  or  skilfully 
concealed  them,  and  thus  the  number  of  exposed  points 
was  not  only  lessened,  but  a  secure  armour  created  to 
defend  them. 

Neither  were  the  reforms  quite  an  empty  name  ;  it  was 
no  small  gain  for  Catholic  countries  that  the  advantages 
gained  by  the  Protestants  were  in  some  degree  secured  to 
them  also  ;  seminaries  were  to  be  provided  for  the  better 
education  of  priests,  and  there  was  to  be  strict  supervision  to 
ensure  their  better  conduct ;  divine  service  was  to  be  better 
regulated,  the  sacraments  administered,  and  edification  pro- 
vided for  by  means  of  preaching ;  but  the  chief  point  was, 
and  continued  to  be,  the  establishment  of  the  unimpeach- 
able legitimacy  of  the  Papal  Chair  as  the  main  pillar  of  the 
newly-won  uniformity. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  JESUITS   AND   THE    INQUISITION. 

Ignatius  Loyola  and  the  Society  of  Jesus. — Spanish  Catholicism. — 
Loyola's  Spiritual  Knighthood,  from  1521.— Organization  of  the 
Order,  from  the  time  of  its  Authorisation,  1540. — Its  Constitution, 
Principles,  Discipline,  and  Tactics. — The  Inquisition.  —  The  In- 
structions of  Cardinal  Caraffa. — Censorship  of  the  Press. 

IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AND  THE  SOCIETY  OF  JESUS.* 

T7  XPERIENCE  had  shown  that  the  old  monastic  orders 
-L-'  were  no  longer  sufficient.  Catholics  and  Protestants 
united  in  lamenting  their  decline.  Some  orders — the  Augus- 
tinians,  for  example — had  become  a  source  of  apostasy; 
others  were  no  longer  so  efficient  as  before,  at  a  time  when 
humanistic  culture  was  required  in  the  representatives  of 
the  Church's  cause ;  the  Dominican  order,  part  of  whose 
vocation  it  had  been  to  enforce  the  Inquisition,  had  become 
powerless ;  in  the  trial  of  Reuchlin  they  had  done  more 
harm  than  good,  and  succeeding  times  had  shown  that  they 
were  totally  unable  to  prevent  the  spread  of  heresy. 

About  1540,  therefore,  an  idea  began  to  be  entertained 
at  Rome  that  a  new  order  was  needed  ;  the  plan  was  not  to 
abolish  the.  old  ones,  but  to  found  new  ones  which  should 
better  answer  the  required  ends.  The  most  important  of 
them  was  the  Society  of  Jesus.  But  in  this  case  the  moving 
cause  did  not  proceed  from  Rome. 

Among  the  wars  of  Charles  V.  we  must  recur  to  the  first 
contest  at  Navarra,  in  1521.  It  was  on  this  occasion,  in 

*  Historia  Societatis  Jesu,  by  Orlandini  and  other  Members  of 
the  Order,  1615  1715.  Maffeji  de  Vita  et  Moribus  Ign.  Loyolae, 
1685.  Corpus  Institutorum  Soc.  Jesu.  Antwerp,  1702.  Jnstitutum 
Soc.  Jesus.  Prag,  1752.  K.ortum,  Kntstehungsgeschtchte  des  Jesuit- 
enordens.  1843. 


266          THE  JESUITS  AND  THE  INQUISITION. 

defending  Pamplona  against  the  French,  that  Loyola  re- 
ceived the  wound  which  was  to  cause  the  monkish  tendency 
to  prevail  over  the  chivalrous  element  in  his  nature. 

A  kind  of  Catholicism  still  prevailed  in  Spain  which  no 
longer  existed  anywhere  else.  Its  vigour  may  be  traced  to 
the  fact  that  during  the  whole  of  the  Middle  Ages  it  was 
always  in  hostile  contact  with  Islam,  with  the  Mohammedan 
infidels.  The  crusades  here  had  never  come  to  an  end ; 
the  perpetual  contest  with  the  Moors  and  Moriscos  was  a 
national  as  well  as  religious  enthusiasm ;  the  ccdcsia  militans 
had  never  laid  down  her  arms,  and  thus  she  had  retained 
all  those  manly  and  chivalrous  qualities  which  she  had 
elsewhere  lost  during  the  protracted  peace.  Abuses  were 
not  wanting  in  the  Church  here ;  but  they  were  partly 
overlooked,  and  they  were  really  less  important.  Face  to 
face  with  a  common  enemy,  Christianity  had  not  time  to 
fall  into  the  outward  formalism  which  disfigured  it  elsewhere. 
The  enthusiastic  spirit  of  mediseval  Catholicism  still  existed 
here  ;  the  whole  nation  was  filled  with  zeal  to  convert  the 
heretics.  Our  previous  retrospect  has  shown  us  how  little 
there  was  of  it  in  the  rest  of  the  world. 

As  yet  untainted  by  heresy,  and  suffering  from  no  decline, 
in  Spain,  Catholicism  was  as  eager  for  conquest  as  it  had 
been  in  all  the  West  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries. 
It  was  from  the  nation  possessing  this  temperament  that  the 
founder  of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  sprang. 

Ignatius  Loyola  (born  1491)  was  a  Spanish  knight,  pos- 
sessing the  twofold  tendencies  which  distinguish  the  knight- 
hood of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  was  a  gallant  swordsman, 
delighting  in  martial  feats  and  romantic  love  adventures  ', 
but  he  was  at  the  same  time  animated  by  a  glowing  enthu- 
siasm for  the  Church  and  her  supremacy,  even  during  the 
early  period  of  his  life.  These  two  tendencies  were  striving 
together  in  his  character,  until  the  event  took  place  which 
threw  him  upon  a  bed  of  suffering.  No  sooner  was  he 
compelled  to  renounce  his  worldly  knighthood,  than  he  was 
sure  that  he  was  called  upon  to  found  a  new  order  of 
spiritual  knighthood,  like  that  of  which  he  had  read  in  the 
chivalrous  romance,  "  Amadis."  Entirely  unaffected  by  the 
Reformation,  what  he  understood  by  this  was  a  spiritual 
brotherhood  in  the  true  mediaeval  sense,  which  should 
convert  the  heathen  in  the  newly-discovered  countries  of 
the  world. 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA.  267 

With  all  the  zeal  of  a  Spaniard  he  decided  to  live  to  the 
Catholic  Church  alone;  he  chastised  his  body  with  penances 
and  all  kinds  of  privations,  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem, 
and,  in  order  to  complete  his  defective  education,  he  visited 
the  university  of  Paris  ;  it  was  among  his  comrades  there 
that  he  formed  the  first  associations  out  of  which  the  order 
was  afterwards  formed.  Among  these  was  Jacob  Lainez ; 
he  was  Loyola's  fellow-countryman,  the  organizing  head 
who  was  to  stamp  his  impress  upon  the  order.  What 
Loyola  would  have  founded  himself  would  have  been  of  a 
different  character ;  it  would  have  been  an  enthusiastic  fra- 
ternity in  the  faith,  ascetically  cut  off  from  all  worldly  affairs, 
who  would  have  spread  the  gospel  in  the  New  World.  An 
impulse  to  Christian  conquest  was  Loyola's  ruling  idea. 

He  formed  a  little  company  of  congenial  spirits,  whom 
he  had  thoroughly  examined  and  conscientiously  selected  ; 
but  their  efforts  might  have  been  called  somewhat  aimless, 
and,  however  earnest,  might,  from  their  entire  independence, 
not  have  been  wholly  free  from  suspicion  of  heresy. 

Then  came  the  spread  of  the  new  doctrines,  the  mighty 
progress  of  Protestantism.  No  one  who  was  heartily 
attached  to  the  old  Church  could  doubt  that  there  was 
work  for  such  an  association,  for  the  object  now  in  hand 
was  not  to  make  Christians  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of 
Central  America,  but  to  reconquer  the  apostate  members  of 
the  Romish  Church. 

About  1539,  Loyola  came  with  his  fraternity  to  Rome. 
He  did  not  find  favour  in  all  circles ;  the  old  orders 
regarded  the  new  one  with  jealousy  and  mistrust ;  but 
Pope  Paul  III.  (1534-49)  did  not  allow  himself  to  be 
misled,  and  in  1540  gave  the  fraternity  his  confirmation, 
thus  constituting  Loyola's  followers  an  order,  which,  on  its 
part,  engaged  "  to  obey  in  all  things  the  reigning  Pope — to 
go  into  any  country,  to  Turks,  heathen,  or  heretics,  or  to 
whomsoever  he  might  send  them,  at  once,  unconditionally, 
without  question  or  reward." 

It  is  from  this  time  that  the  special  history  of  the  order 
begins.  During  the  next  year  Loyola  was  chosen  the  first 
general  of  the  order,  an  office  which  he  held  until  his  death 
(1541-56).  He  was  succeeded  by  Lainez.  He  was  less 
enthusiastic  than  his  predecessor,  had  a  cooler  head,  and 
was  more  reasonable ;  he  was  the  man  for  diplomatic  pro- 
jects and  complete  and  systematic  organization. 


268          THE  JESUITS  AND  THE  INQUISITION. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  ORDER. 

The  new  order  differed  in  several  respects  from  any  pre- 
viously existing  one,  but  it  entirely  corresponded  to  the  new 
era  which  had  begun  for  the  Romish  Church.  It  has  been 
well  said  that  every  period  of  Catholic  Christianity  had  a 
special  order  which  represented  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the 
age.  To  the  age  of  chivalry,  its  poetry  and  art,  the  con- 
temporary order  of  Benedictines  corresponded,  with  its 
soaring  flights  in  the  same  realm,  its  intellectual  culture,  its 
mighty  influence  over  the  aristocracy  of  the  age,  and  its 
ardour  for  all  great  ideas. 

When  heresy  was  budding  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
Papacy  created  the  standing  army  of  Mendicant  Friars,  who 
were  intended  to  influence  the  masses,  and  they  succeeded 
wonderfully  in  their  object.  The  Jesuits,  at  the  time  of 
absolute  papal  supremacy,  furnished  a  chivalrous  order, 
prepared  to  render  unconditional  obedience  to  the  com- 
mands of  the  Church,  and  with  their  strict  organization 
they  completely  distanced  all  predecessors  and  rivals. 

The  construction  of  the  new  order  was  based  and  carried 
out  on  a  monarchical-military  system.  The  territories  of 
the  Church  were  divided  into  provinces ;  at  the  head  of 
each  of  these  was  a  provincial ;  over  the  provincials,  and 
chosen  by  them,  the  general,  who  commanded  the  soldiers 
of  Christ,  and  was  entrusted  with  dictatorial  power,  limited 
only  by  the  opinions  of  three  judges,  assistants  or  admoni- 
tors.  The  general  has  no-  superior  but  the  Pope,  with 
whom  he  communicates  directly ;  he  appoints  and  dis- 
misses all  officials,  issues  orders  as  to  the  administration  of 
the  order,  and  rules  with  undisputed  sway.  The  abso- 
lute monarchy  which  was  assigned  to  the  Pope  by  the 
Council  of  Trent,  was  conferred  by  him  on  the  general  of 
the  Jesuits. 

Among  the  four  vows  of  poverty,  chastity,  obedience, 
and  subjection  to  the  Pope,  obedience  was  the  soul  of  all. 
To  learn  and  practise  this  physically  and  mentally,  up  to  the 
point  where,  according  to  the  Jesuit  expression,  a  man 
becomes  "  tanquam  lignum  et  cadaver,"  was  the  ruling  prin- 
ciple of  the  institution. 

The  recruits  or  novices  were  at  once  daily  and  hourly 
subjected  to  this  discipline  of  body  and  soul.  "As,"  so 
they  teach,  "  among  the  heavenly  bodies  the  inner  circle 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  ORDER.  269 

follows  the  course  of  the  outer  circle  by  an  eternal  law,  so 
must  the  serving  members  be  dependent  on  the  wink  of 
their  superior  :  " — "  baculus,  qui  ubicunque  et  quacunque 
in  re  velit  eo  uti,  qui  eum  manu  tenet,  ei  inserviat."  Entire 
renunciation  of  the  will  and  judgment  in  relation  to  every- 
thing commanded  by  the  superior,  blind  obedience,  uncon- 
ditional subjection,  constitute  their  ideal. 

There  was  but  one  exception,  but  even  in  this  there  was 
a  reservation.  It  was  expressly  stated  that  there  can  be 
no  obligation  "  ad  peccatum  mortale  vel  veniale,"  to  sinful 
acts  of  greater  or  less  importance,  "  except  when  enjoined 
by  the  superior,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,"  "  vel  in  virtute 
obedientiae," — an  elastic  doctrine  which  may  well  be  summed 
up  in  the  dictum  that  "  the  end  justifies  the  means." 

Of  course,  all  the  members  of  this  order  had  to  renounce 
all  ties  of  family,  home,  and  country,  and  it  was  expressly 
enjoined.  Loyola  himself  threw  letters  from  his  family, 
after  long  absence,  into  the  fire  unread,  to  show  that  he  no 
longer  had  any  family,  and  his  disciples  were  expected  to 
efface  from  their  hearts  the  memory  of  parents,  brothers, 
and  sisters,  and  whatever  else  they  might  have  on  earth ; 
dead  to  the  world  and  to  all  personal  affection,  they 
were  to  live  to  their  Lord  and  Saviour  alone,  and  to  consi- 
der Him  as  the  substitute  for  parents,  brethren,  and  all 
earthly  things. 

Of  the  vow  of  poverty  it  is  said,  in  the  "  Summarium  "  of 
the  constitution  of  the  order,  that  it  must  be  maintained  as 
a  "  murus  religionis."  No  one  shall  have  any  property  ; 
every  one  must  be  content  with  the  meanest  furniture  and 
fare,  and,  if  necessity  or  command  require  it,  he  must  be 
ready  to  beg  his  bread  from  door  to  door  ("  ostiatim  mendi- 
care  ").  The  external  aspect  of  members  of  the  order,  their 
speech  and  silence,  gestures,  gait,  garb,  and  bearing  shall 
indicate  the  prescribed  purity  of  soul. 

In  accordance  with  the  "  rules  of  modesty,"  the  disciple 
of  Jesus  was  to  bend  his  head  slightly  forward,  to  cast 
down  his  eyes,  to  maintain  a  calm  and  kindly  mien,  to  walk 
deliberately  and  with  dignity,  to  exhibit  modesty  and  edify- 
ing unction  in  looks,  words,  and  movements ;  in  short,  in  all 
respects  to  maintain  a  priestly  sanctity. 

On  all  these  and  many  other  points,  the  new  order  only 
laid  greater  stress  on  the  precepts  which  were  to  be  found 
among  the  rules  of  other  orders,  though  in  the  universal 


270         THE  JESUITS  AND  THE  INQUISITION. 

demoralisation  of  the  monastic  life  they  had  fallen  into 
disuse.  But  it  decidedly  differed  from  all  the  others  in  the 
manner  in  which  it  aimed  at  obtaining  sway  in  every  sphere 
and  every  aspect  of  life. 

Himself  without  home  or  country,  and  not  holding  the 
doctrines  of  any  political  party,  the  disciple  of  Jesus  re- 
nounced everything  which  might  alienate  him  among  vary- 
ing nationalities,  pursuing  various  political  aims.  Then  he 
did  not  confine  his  labours  to  the  pulpit  and  the  confes- 
sional ;  he  gained  an  influence  over  the  rising  generation  by 
a  systematic  attention  to  education,  which  had  been  shame- 
fully neglected  by  the  other  orders.  He  devoted  himself  to 
education  from  the  national  schools  up  to  the  academic 
chair,  and  by  no  means  confined  himself  to  the  sphere  of 
theology. 

This  was  a  principle  of  immense  importance. 
The  coarseness,  ignorance,  idleness,  and  low  vices  of  the 
old  orders  had  brought  them  into  disrepute.  The  members 
of  the  new  were  moral  and  polished ;  they  cultivated  science 
and  learning;  and  as  the  Church  was  just  then  being  reno- 
vated from  above,  and  required  to  be  more  firmly  rooted 
among  the  people,  they  were  specially  adapted  for  instruc- 
tors and  educators  within  her  borders. 

It  is  a  true  saying,  that  "  he  who  gains  the  youth,  pos- 
sesses the  future ; "  and  by  devoting  themselves  to  the 
education  of  youth,  the  Jesuits  secured  a  future  to  the 
Church  more  surely  than  by  any  other  scheme  that  could 
have  been  devised.  What  the  schoolmasters  were  for  the 
youth,  the  confessors  were  for  those  of  riper  years ;  what  the 
clerical  teachers  were  for  the  common  people,  the  spiritual 
directors  and  confidants  were  for  great  lords  and  rulers — for 
the  Jesuits  aspired  to  a  place  at  the  side  of  the  great,  and 
at  gaining  the  confidence  of  kings.  It  was  not  long  before 
they  could  boast  of  astonishing  success.  "  How  manifold," 
says  the  history  of  the  society,  "  are  the  traces  of  our  educa- 
tional labours !  Our  former  pupils,  when  grown  up, 
accustom  their  children  to  the  fear  of  God,  and  they  often 
rise  into  the  highest  offices  and  circles  of  society.  The 
priests  educated  by  us  often  attain  to  the  highest  honours  in 
the  Church;  directors,  bishops,  counsellors,  and  popes  are 
found  among  them.  Many  are  robed  in  the  purple  of  the 
cardinals,  or  hold  places  of  command  as  senators,  who  not 
long  before  were  sitting  on  the  benches  in  our  schools." 


RULES   OF  THE   ORDER.  271 

In  the  interests  of  these  various  labours  in  the  Church  and 
the  world,  the  Jesuit  was  permitted  to  throw  off  the  clerical 
garb,  and  to  take  part  in  political  and  diplomatic  affairs,  and 
in  business  of  a  purely  secular  character. 

The  gifts  and  qualifications  of  all  those  who  entered  the 
order  were  minutely  studied,  and  they  were  subjected  to 
training  calculated  to  make  them  adepts  in  the  use  of  their 
special  powers.  In  this  respect,  Loyola  was  the  founder  of 
the  order  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word ;  for,  from  the 
moment  when  he  founded  his  little  society,  he  determined 
to  search  the  hearts  and  reins  of  men,  and  to  trust  no  one 
whom  he  had  not,  as  he  thought,  thoroughly  seen  through. 
This  continued  to  be  the  principle  of  the  order,  and  by  his 
successors  it  was  carried  out  still  more  systematically  and 
imperiously  than  by  himself.  The  words,  acts,  talents,  and 
performances  of  every  member  of  the  order  were  closely 
watched.  The  provincial  received  reports  of  the  students 
from  the  superintendents  of  the  colleges,  and  he  communi- 
cated them  to  the  general.  The  superintendents,  again,  had 
their  confidential  novices,  charged  with  the  observation  and 
espionage  of  their  colleagues.  An  inimitable  system  of 
espionage  was  established,  in  the  fine  meshes  of  which 
everything  worth  knowing  was  caught,  and  the  conduct  and 
progress  of  every  individual,  from  the  lowest  upward,  was 
carefully  noted  down. 

In  the  culture  of  science  and  learning,  special  regard  was 
had  to  the  objects  prescribed  to  the  order  at  home  and 
abroad. 

Profane  learning  was  cultivated  only  as  a  weapon  against 
the  heresy  of  modern  culture,  and  the  selection  of  subjects, 
and  the  extent  to  which  they  were  pursued,  was  therefore 
determined  on  polemical  grounds.  Philological  and  mathe- 
matical studies,  dialectics  and  rhetoric,  were  diligently  pur- 
sued ;  but  everything  that  would  not  serve  the  order  was 
neglected.  Greek  was  strikingly  neglected  compared  with 
Latin,  because  it  was  not  of  much  use  in  polemics,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  ancient  Hellenes  was  not  congenial  to  the  spirit 
of  the  order.  The  main  point  aimed  at  in  all  their  studies 
was  dexterity  in  argument.  Disputation  and  dialectic  fencing 
were  therefore  much  practised,  and  they  were  early  schooled 
in  the  methods  of  these  arts. 

History  was  written  from  their  own  point  of  view,  philo- 
sophy cultivated  in  the  spirit  of  ancient  scholasticism ;  thus, 


272          THE  JESUITS  AND  THE  INQUISITION. 

no  true  representation  of  history,  nor  independent  research 
into  the  nature  of  things,  was  possible.  In  both  fields, 
therefore,  the  order  has  been  quite  unproductive.  It  has 
produced  good  Latin  scholars,  skilful  translators  and  gram- 
marians, great  dialecticians  and  eminent  orators ;  but  beyond 
this  it  has  not  attained  distinction. 

At  a  period  when  all  the  other  orders  were  idle  or  asleep, 
the  services  of  such  an  one  as  this,  which  pressed  talent, 
learning,  and  fanaticism  into  its  service,  to  the  greatest  pos- 
sible extent,  and  under  a  thousand  forms,  were  an  in- 
calculable assistance  to  the  papal  policy.  It  may  well  be 
said  that  it  was  by  means  of  this  order  that  the  labours  of 
the  Council  of  Trent  first  acquired  any  historical  importance. 
But  for  everything  beyond  the  sphere  of  this  policy,  the 
order  was  a  tremendous  danger.  To  oppose  to  the  Jesuit 
doctrine  of  the  right  of  the  masses  arbitrarily  to  choose  this 
or  that  form  of  government,  one  to-day,  another  to-morrow, 
there  was,  speaking  generally,  no  law  in  the  secular  state  of 
unconditional  validity ;  that  is,  a  secular  state  no  longer 
had  any  existence.  And  this  doctrine  was  jealously  de- 
fended by  an  order  whose  members  were  independent  of 
civic  associations,  were  not  permitted  to  have  either  family 
or  country,  and  whose  one  article  of  morality  was  blind 
obedience  to  their  superiors.  In  every  State  of  Europe  they 
attacked  now  this  form  of  government,  and  now  that.  In 
Holland  and  France  they  incited  the  people  against  the 
existing  order  of  things  just  as  it  suited  their  purpose;  and 
the  manifold  forms  under  which  they  presented  themselves, 
rendered  them  incomprehensible  to  their  adversaries. 

There  was  a  contradiction  in  this  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
world  itself.  The  doctrine  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  of  the 
absolute  authority  of  the  Pope,  of  which  the  Jesuits  were 
the  most  zealous  representatives,  imposed  upon  Catholicism 
itself  a  law  of  immobility,  which  had  never  before  been 
practically  acted  upon.  Thus  the  Jesuits  were  the  mortal 
enemies  of  whatever  tendencies  to  freedom  and  progress 
still  existed  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  There  was 
therefore  early  a  party  of  very  faithful  Roman  Catholics, 
not  like  the  illuminati  of  the  eighteenth  century,  which  was 
opposed  to  them. 

Besides,  the  position  taken  up  by  the  Jesuits  with  regard  to 
the  secular  power  threatened  the  existence  not  only  of  the 
Protestant  States,  but  of  the  Catholic  States  also.  The  here- 


THE  INQUISITION.  273 

tical  doctrine  that  the  State  was  something  accidental,  and  its 
form  variable,  that  the  Church  as  the  supreme  power  alone 
was  eternal,  called  forth  opposition  from  the  most  zealous 
Catholic  governments;  and  when,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
this  idea  began  to  make  way,  and  its  roots  were  met  with 
everywhere  among  the  order  of  Jesuits,  the  order  fell  a  sacri- 
fice, not  to  the  Church,  but  to  the  modern  idea  of  the  State. 

THE  INQUISITION,  FROM  1542. 

During  the  same  year  in  which  the  order  of  Jesuits  re- 
ceived the  Pope's  confirmation,  the  Spanish  Inquisition  was 
introduced  into  Italy,  and  Cardinal  Caraffa  was  commis- 
sioned with  the  establishment  of  the  institution.  In  the  in- 
structions of  1542,  we  have  an  authentic  document  relating 
to  the  principles  on  which  the  Inquisition  was  to  proceed 
to  extirpate  heresy,  first  in  Italy,  and  then  in  the  world  in 
general,  i.  The  Inquisition  was  not  to  delay,  but  to  act 
with  the  greatest  rigour  on  the  least  suspicion.  2.  To  have 
no  respect  either  to  princes  or  prelates,  however  high  their 
rank  may  be.  3.  Rather  to  be  especially  strict  with  those 
who  screen  themselves  under  the  protection  of  a  ruler. 
4.  In  dealing  with  heretics,  and  especially  Calvinists,  it  is 
not  to  degrade  itself  by  any  kind  of  false  toleration.* 
The  new  Inquisition  acted  on  these  principles  with  fearful 
severity.  By  dint  of  dungeons  and  stakes,  persecution  and 
exile,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  there  was  no  more 
heresy  in  Italy,  and  then  this  pattern  institution  was  to  be 
established  in  the  other  States.  But  everywhere  it  met  with 
the  greatest  opposition,  and  they  could  not  succeed  in  intro- 
ducing it  even  into  purely  Catholic  countries. 

But  wherever  Caraffa's  idea  was  carried  out,  and  a  union 
formed  between  the  temporal  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  by 
which  the  former  lent  all  its  aid  to  carry  out  the  mandates 
of  the  Church,  and  in  return  the  Church  branded  as  heresy 
and  exterminated  everything  that  was  displeasing  to  the 
State,  the  State  itself  received  a  wound  which  was  not 
healed  for  centuries. 

Spain,  above  all  other  countries,  has  had  experience  of 
this,  for  there  the  Inquisition  has  destroyed  the  very  roots 
of  political  liberty,  and  the  State  has  sacrificed  everything 

*  Ranke. 
T 


274         THE  JESUITS   AKD   THE  INQUISITION. 

for  the  sake  of  maintaining  the  unity  of  the  faith  in  its  most 
rigid  form ;  the  fraternal  bond  between  temporal  and  spiritual 
despotism  pursued  its  ends  with  great  success  :  but  it  was  not 
heresy  only  which  disappeared — the  life  of  the  nation,  the 
spirit  of  the  people  was  fatally  crushed,  and  this  fact,  which  no 
one  denies,  is  chiefly  insisted  on  by  Spaniards  themselves.* 

This  explains  the  prompt  resistance  to  it  in  countries 
where  the  national  spirit  was  strong,  as  in  France  and 
Germany ;  it  explains  the  fact  that  the  attempt  to  intro- 
duce the  Inquisition  into  the  Netherlands  was  one  of  the 
sparks  that  ignited  the  Revolt. 

One  part  of  the  apparatus  of  the  Inquisition  was  the 
censorship  of  the  press  and  book-police. 

Before  the  invention  of  printing  it  was  not,  of  course, 
very  difficult  to  keep  a  watch  on  dangerous  works ;  it  is 
equally  obvious  that  now,  when  there  came  to  be  a  widely- 
extended  literature,  the  comfortable  old  orders  would  be 
totally  unable  to  keep  up  the  previous  book-police.  Now- 
adays any  such  censorship  would  appear  totally  imprac- 
ticable. The  attempt  was  made  by  one  of  the  greatest  men 
of  the  age  when  he  had  reached  the  summit  of  his  power, 
and  ruled  from  the  Ebro  to  the  Niemen ;  and  how  absurd  it 
proved  to  be  ! 

But  at  that  time,  when  intellectual  activity  was  not  to  be 
compared  with  that  of  our  days,  when  the  power  of  the  See 
of  Rome  had  been  reorganized,  when  its  influence  was 
completely  dominant  in  the  southern  monarchies,  and  ex- 
tended northwards  to  a  considerable  distance,  and  when 
defection  from  Rome  was  far  less  general,  the  case  was 
different.  We  have  some  striking  examples  of  the  power  of 
the  book-police.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  copies  of  the 
little  work  called  "  Of  the  Benefit  of  Christ's  Death,"  had 
been  circulated,  which  was  an  attempt  to  popularise  the 
Lutheran  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  in  Italy,  and  it 
had  been  translated  into  many  languages ;  but  at  the  time 
of  which  we  speak  it  was  so  utterly  expunged  from  literature 
by  the  modern  censorship  that  when  Ranke  wrote  his  History 
of  the  Popes,  in  1834,  he  could  say  that  no  trace  of  the 
work  existed.  During  the  course  of  the  last  few  years  a 
copy  was  found  ;  and,  not  long  after  this  was  made  known, 
two  more  came  to  light,  and  not  only  have  thousands  of 

»  Written  about  1859.— TR. 


CENSORSHIP  OF  THE  PRESS.  275 

copies  been  published  again,  but  the  English  Bible  Society 
is  taking  steps  to  circulate  it  in  Italy  again.* 

The  influence  of  the  Inq/iisition  on  the  sale  of  books  was 
therefore  not  without  importance.  This  is  proved  by 
another  example.  Paolo  Sarpi,  a  Venetian  monk,  who, 
although  a  zealous  Catholic,  held  the  views  of  Reform  put 
forth  at  Constance  and  ]  lasle — namely,  a  Papacy  limited  by 
bishops  and  councils,  and  a  thorough  reform  of  the  Church, 
both  head  and  members — undertook  a  history  of  the  Council 
of  Trent,  in  order  to  show  how  the  original  objects  for 
which  it  had  been  convened,  the  abolition  of  abuses,  puri- 
fication of  doctrine,  and  improvement  of  the  constitution  of 
the  Church,  had  been  frustrated,  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope  over  Church  and  State  only  confirmed. 

The  work  appeared  in  the  deepest  secrecy,  and  under  a 
feigned  name,  but  its  authorship  was  at  once  surmised ;  and 
it  was  not  thought  enough  to  bring  out  an  answer,  which 
Pallavicini  was  ordered  to  write — the  book  was  inserted  in 
the  Index,  and  the  author  persecuted ;  and  from  the  dangers 
Sarpi  passed  through,  we  may  learn  the  fate  that  awaited 
an  eminent  author  who,  from  within  the  Church,  ventured  to 
oppose  the  restoration  of  the  papal  supremacy. 

An  Index  in  my  possession  shows  how  systematically  the 
heretical  literature  of  that  day  was  attacked.  The  literary 
productions  of  fifteen  years  are  comprised  within  five  sheets, 
and  everything  of  importance  that  had  appeared  in  theo- 
logy, philosophy,  history,  antiquarian  researches,  and  natural 
history,  is  condemned.  Thus  almost  all  literature  was  for- 
bidden, with  the  exception  of  that  which  had  arisen  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  or  among  her  orders. 

Since  Rome  now  had  the  power  to  carry  out  this  censor- 
ship of  the  press  with  the  help  of  Philip  II.  and  the 
German  Hapsburgs,  a  large  portion  of  Europe  was  as  good 
as  closed  against  all  literary  progress. 

*  Qy.  Tract  Society.— Ta. 


PART  V. 

PHILIP  H.  IN  SPAIN,  AND  THE  REVOLT  IN  THE 
NETHERLANDS. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

SPAIN   UNDER   CHARLES   V.   AND   PHILIP    II. 

The  Ecclesiastical-political  Plans  of  Philip,  1565-98.  —  The  Abso- 
lute Monarchy  in  Spain  under  Charles  V. — Philip's  Inheritance. 
—  His  Character.  —  Amalgamation  of  Spiritual  and  Temporal 
Despotism  in  Spain.* 

SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  V.  AND  PHILIP  II. 

THE  heir  of  Charles  V.  in  Spain,  Burgundy,  Italy,  and 
the  New  World  was  also  the  inheritor  of  his  policy. 
In  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Philip  II.  once 
more  undertook  to  accomplish  what  had  failed  in  the  first 
half,  and  on  still  more  rigid  principles  and  with  less  divided 
forces  than  his  father  had  either  attempted  or  had  had  in 
his  power. 

He  undertook  to  enforce,  without  limit  and  uncondition- 
ally, the  temporal  and  spiritual  despotism  at  which  the 
restored  papal  power  was  aiming  with  all  its  might.  It  was 

*  See,  besides  the  works  already  cited  in  reference  to  Charles  V., 
Colleccion  de  Documentos  Ineditos.  Madrid,  1842.  Maldonado, 
Hist,  de  las  Comunidades  de  Castilla.  Madrid,  1840.  Sepulvedae, 
Hist.  Philippi  II.,  1556-64.  Herrera,  Hist,  del  Rey  Philippe  II.,  1613. 
3  vols.  Ranke,  Fiirsten  und  volker  Von  Sud.  Europa.  Vol.  I.  Have- 
mann,  Darstellungen  aus  der  Span.  Geschichte.  1850.  Prescott,  The 
Reign  of  Philip  II.  2  vols.  London,  1858.  Salvador  Bermudes  de 
Castro,  Antonio  Perez,  1842.  Relations  des  Ambassadeurs  de 
Venise.  Paris,  1838.  2  vols.  Alberi  Relazioni  degli  Ambasciatori 
Veneti.  Vols.  I.— IX.  1855. 


THE  SPANISH  MONARCHY.  277 

the  most  daring  project  of  the  age,  to  enforce  in  every  part 
of  the  empire  the  absolute  monarchy  which  existed  in  Spain, 
in  spite  of  national  and  religious  insurrections,  and,  so  far 
as  the  empire  of  this  prince  and  his  spiritual  allies  extended, 
in  alliance  with  them  to  raise  the  Church  in  its  restored 
unity  to  supreme  power.  No  other  European  prince  per- 
sonally devoted  him  self  to  this  cause  and  expended  his  every 
effort  upon  it  as  Philip  did;  and  the  question  whether  or 
not  he  would  succeed,  kept  nearly  half  a  century — for  nearly 
over  this  period  did  his  reign  extend — in  anxious  sus- 
pense. 

It  was  not  only  over  his  own  immediate  territories — 
Spain,  Italy,  and  the  Netherlands — that  his  policy  extended, 
but  over  the  whole  of  western  Europe.  The  boldest 
attempt  to  restore  the  supremacy  of  the  ancient  Church  in 
England  was  supported  by  him,  and  it  was  just  the  same 
in  France,  where,  after  the  extinction  of  the  line  of  Valois, 
the  idea  arose  of  founding  another  legitimate  monarchy, 
and  then  the  still  bolder  one  of  making  the  kingdom  an 
appanage  of  Spain. 

But  the  result  brought  disgrace  upon  this  magnificent 
scheme.  Philip  suffered  defeat  after  defeat.  In  Spain  the 
flower  of  the  country  perished  by  the  Inquisition,  and  under 
the  rule  of  the  priests ;  in  the  Netherlands  there  was  a 
great  revolt,  which  ended  in  the  defection  and  dismem- 
berment of  the  provinces;  in  England,  after  a  colossal 
expenditure  of  strength,  he  could  not  succeed  in  subduing 
the  power  of  Queen  Elizabeth ;  his  attempt  to  make  France 
a  Spanish  province  was  utterly  frustrated  by  Henry  IV. ;  and 
the  last  act  of  his  life  was  that  Peace  of  Vervins,  in  which 
he  was  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  the 
French  power. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  these  defeats  could  not  take 
place  without  fearful  throes.  A  State  staked  on  such  a  ven- 
ture could  not,  if  it  failed,  but  be  involved  in  the  general 
ruin.  This  most  comprehensive  attempt  to  enforce  at  once 
the  form  of  the  Spanish  Government  and  the  restoration  of 
the  Roman  Church  failed  everywhere  with  one  exception, 
and  it  has  made  the  only  country  where  it  succeeded  per- 
petually wretched. 

When  King  Charles  V.  began  to  reign  in  Spain,  the 
country  was  by  no  means  the  compactly  united  territory 
that  it  afterwards,  politically,  though  not  nationally,  be- 


278     SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  V.  AND  PHILIP  II. 

came  ;  for  the  last  half  century  has  shown  that  the  ancient 
differences  of  race  are  not  entirely  obliterated.  At  that 
time  it  was  still  fresh  in  recollection  that  there  had  been  a 
kingdom  of  Aragon  and  a  kingdom  of  Castile,  and  that  they 
had  maintained  an  independent  existence  side  by  side. 
Then  there  was  the  countless  multitude  of  provincial  rights 
and  privileges,  in  which  no  country  speaking  a  Romanic 
language  was  so  rich  as  Spain  :  the  old  national  opposition 
in  the  south,  where  the  Moors  had  long  held  sway,  and 
which  had  given  to  the  inhabitants  an  oriental  hue,  while  in 
the  north  they  were  unmixed  ancient  Basque  and  Iberian. 

Charles's  idea  was  here  especially  to  establish  a  certain 
uniformity ;  and  if  he  expected  anywhere  to  found  a  well- 
consolidated  domestic  power  for  his  family,  it  was  in  Spain, 
where  only  he  looked  to  the  establishment  of  a  lasting 
monarchical  power,  while  to  Germany  and  the  Netherlands 
he  left  their  own  form  of  government. 

There  was  no  lack  of  opposition.  Among  all  the  Spanish 
territories,  none  possessed  so  many  valuable  privileges  as 
the  kingdom  of  Aragon.  It  had  the  most  liberal  mediaeval 
constitution,  in  which  the  idea  of  a  contract  between  the 
governors  and  the  governed,  of  the  right  of  resistance  to 
arbitrary  power,  was  more  sharply  defined  than  in  any 
other.  Freedom  there  was  not  a  mere  antiquated  feudal 
privilege,  which  had  still  a  phantom-like  existence  in  the 
brains  of  a  few  noble  families.  No ;  it  still  lived  in  the 
nation,  and  was  a  blessing  still  prized  above  everything  in 
communities  and  flourishing  cities.  Valencia,  Saragossa, 
and  Barcelona  had  not  forgotten  their  proud,  peculiar  pri- 
vileges, and  their  chivalrous  inhabitants  knew  how  to 
maintain  them. 

This  gave  rise  to  the  conflict  in  1520  and  1521,  in  which 
Charles  proved  victorious. 

Charles  had  from  the  first  assumed  absolute  power. 
When  he  was  involved  in  the  struggle  with  France,  the 
opportunity  seemed  to  be  come  to  rise  up  in  arms  against 
him.  Democratic  insurrections  broke  out ;  but  Charles  was 
in  a  position  to  defend  himself  successfully  on  both  sides  : 
opposition  was  put  down,  and  the  provinces  humbled.  Con- 
flicting local  interests  began  to  clash,  and  thus  increased 
their  helplessness,  as  opposed  to  the  compact  power  of 
the  Crown. 

Ancient  privileges  and  liberties  were  compressed  within 


PHILIP'S   INHERITANCE.  279 

the  narrowest  limits — the  royal  supremacy  enforced  to  the 
utmost.  The  decrees  of  the  conqueror  of  Villalar  were  to 
be  accepted  as  the  legal  foundation  of  a  new  administra- 
tion ;  and  in  the  Inquisition  Charles  had  already  discovered 
a  weapon  for  quelling  political  opposition. 

In  the  autumn  of  1555  Charles  gave  over  this  thoroughly 
consolidated  power  to  his  son  Philip,  into  whose  hands 
the  most  splendid  empire  in  the  world  now  came — Spain 
and  the  American  colonies,  Milan  and  both  the  Sicilies,  the 
Netherlands  and  Burgundy,  and,  besides  all  this,  the  here- 
ditary family  alliance  of  the  German  and  Spanish  Haps- 
burg  interests.  On  the  whole,  the  empire  was  given  over  to 
Philip  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

Spain  was  still  a  rising  power,  and  if  it  had  lost  some- 
thing of  the  splendour  of  the  time  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, compared  with  what  it  is  at  present,  it  was  a  truly 
imposing  State. 

We  have  a  brilliant  picture  of  the  state  of  the  Nether- 
lands from  both  Philip's  foes  and  friends.  It  was  only 
Italy  that  showed  signs  of  approaching  decay.  It  had 
begun  to  suffer  under  an  administration  which  rather  preyed 
upon  the  country  than  ruled  it ;  it  was  a  government  which 
it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  strongly  resembled  the  oriental 
pashalics. 

The  colonies  were  also  suffering  under  this  system.  On 
its  entry  into  the  New  World,  Spain  settled  the  principles 
of  its  colonisation ;  conquest  and  military  rule,  provision 
for  distinguished  families,  and  reckless  conversion  of  the 
aborigines — these  were  the  leading  ideas.  The  fact  that  a 
colony  in  order  to  be  profitable  must  prosper,  and  that  in 
order  to  prosper  it  must  have  a  rational  and  conscientious 
government,  that  in  a  foreign  country  a  political  and  social 
life  best  suited  to  it  must  be  fostered,  was  utterly  ignored  in 
this  policy.  Brutal  military  government,  grasping  at  the 
country's  riches,  absence  of  all  law  and  justice  for  the 
inhabitants,  and  of  any  training  of  them  to  self-dependence, 
division  of  power  between  priests  and  soldiers — all  these 
abuses  clung  to  this  colonisation  for  centuries.  The  profit 
of  them  was  therefore  for  a  long  time  not  in  proportion  to 
their  wealth,  for  a  great  part  of  the  proceeds  was  squandered 
in  bad  government.  The  industries  of  the  Netherlands 
alone  brought  into  the  treasury  four  times  as  much  as  the 
gold  and  silver  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 


2 80      SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  V.  AND  PHILIP  .'I. 

Besides,  all  these  countries  possessed  unusually  rich 
resources  for  a  great  policy. 

Spain  had  the  best  army  and  the  most  skilful  generals  of 
the  age.  Her  military  school  was  proverbial  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  The  chivalrous  Spaniard  was  especially 
adapted  to  a  military  life,  not  only  because  he  was  endowed 
with  the  natural  gifts  of  courage  and  taste  for  aggressive 
warfare,  but  in  the  wars  which  had  been  waged  for  centuries 
he  had  been  inured  to  danger,  deprivation,  and  difficulty. 

The  most  prominent  names  among  the  generals  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  Alba,  Don  Juan,  Requesens,  Spinola,  all 
belong  to  Spanish  tradition.  Spain  had  also  a  fleet  such  as 
no  other  nation  possessed  ;  she  had  the  finest  harbours  and 
seaports,  vast  colonial  possessions  of  inexhaustible  wealth, 
while  all  the  States  which  were  soon  to  be  her  rivals  and 
afterwards  her  adversaries  were  still  only  in  the  infancy  of 
their  power ;  in  short,  Spain  could  throw  a  weight  into  the 
scale  for  the  policy  of  her  ruler  which  was  without  example 
in  that  age. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  instructive  spectacles  of  history  to 
watch  how  this  immense  power  was  reduced  to  beggary  in 
the  course  of  one  long  life ;  to  see  how  the  monarch  who 
had  begun  life  on  a  more  magnificent  scale  than  any  other, 
was  in  his  latter  days  destitute  even  of  the  means  for  his 
personal  support,  and  was  compelled  to  have  a  collection 
made  from  house  to  house  in  the  impoverished  country  to 
keep  him  from  starvation.  This  government  in  the  colonies 
and  at  home,  the  enormous  wars  which  ceased  only  with 
his  life,  and  which  were  all  unsuccessful — desperate  under- 
takings, which  involved  the  country  in  ruin — gave  the  final 
blow,  but  the  foundations  of  this  power  were  undermined 
when  all  this  took  place. 

Philip  II.  was  a  singular  character.  He  possessed  the 
same  phlegmatic  repose  and  caution,  the  fatalistic  passivity 
as  his  father,  but  he  was  wanting  in  the  counterpoise  which 
Charles  had  in  the  restless  mental  activity  and  great  energy 
of  will  that  were  peculiar  to  his  rather  uncommon  character. 

Philip  had  more  than  his  father  of  the  dull  heavy  Spanish 
blood  which  tended  to  melancholy  or  extraordinary  lethargy 
and  apathy. 

In  talent  Philip  was  by  no  means  equal  to  his  father. 
He  had  no  grasp  of  mind,  but  was  one  of  those  characters 
who  grow  up  with  one  idea,  to  which  they  adhere  as  an 


PHILIP  II.  281 

article  of  faith  with  extraordinary  constancy,  and  are  proof 
against  everything  which  might  shake  them  in  it ;  neither 
are  they  capable  of  learning  anything  from  the  most  fearful 
chastisements  or  the  most  striking  lessons  of  destiny. 

It  was  this  that  gave  rise  to  his  despotic  tendencies,  his 
obstinate  intolerance  of  any  contradiction,  to  say  nothing 
of  opposition  ;  this  was  also  fostered  by  the  consciousness 
of  his  great  power,  and  still  more  so  by  a  character  un- 
nerved by  sensual  excesses.  His  will  had  lost  its  equilibrium; 
he  obstinately  held  fast  to  his  one  idea,  but  was  languid 
and  undecided  in  action  ;  often  when  it  was  necessary  to 
act,  he  remained  passive,  and  when  he  should  have  given 
way,  exhibited  an  unhappy  obstinacy. 

Still  he  was  not  idle,  but  his  energies  were  spent  in  the 
busy  meddling  of  a  common-place  character  who  has  but  a 
very  imperfect  idea  of  the  human  organism.  Philip  II. 
wrote,  administered,  gave  orders,  day  by  day,  and  from  one 
year's  end  to  another  ;  if  the  regularity  with  which  he  spent 
a  great  part  of  his  life  at  the  desk  can  be  called  industry,  he 
must  be  considered  one  of  the  most  industrious  and  con- 
scientious of  rulers. 

But  the  cabinet  government  conducted  by  all  this  writing 
was  almost  an  entire  stranger  to  the  springs  of  real  life. 
Everything  was  entered  and  arranged  under  separate  heads; 
almost  every  person  of  any  importance  among  his  subjects 
had  a  division  to  himself  in  the  enormous  lists ;  the  King 
boasted  of  an  immense  personal  acquaintance,  which  was 
kept  up  by  a  well-organized  system  of  espionage.  Philip's 
government  went  on  like  clockwork  with  untiring  regularity 
tor  forty  years. 

And  the  entire  administration  of  the  Spanish  Government 
threatened  to  become  ?.s  monotonous,  spiritless,  and  sus- 
piciously one-sided  as  the  personal  doings  of  the  ruler, 
absolute  monarchy  was  exalted  to  be  the  religion  of  the 
State,  and  no  amelioration  in  practice  was  to  be  looked  for. 
The  impression  that  this  prince  always  produced  was  as 
little  favourable  as  possible.  We  have  concurrent  testimony 
to  this  from  the  time  when  his  father,  who  had  already 
conceived  the  idea  of  abdicating  in  his  favour,  introduced 
him  to  the  Northern  provinces  during  his  first  journey  in 
1548;  it  is  stated  in  a  diplomatic  report  that  "he  had 
found  but  little  favour  with  the  Italians,  was  quite  repulsive 
to  the  Flemings,  and  hateful  to  the  Germans." 


282      SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  V.  AND  PHILIP  II. 

His  behaviour  then  and  afterwards  was  a  mixture  of  shy- 
ness and  haughtiness  which  repelled  every  one  ;  he  was  so 
timid  and  embarrassed  that  he  hardly  dared  to  raise  his 
eyes,  but  at  the  same  time  he  exhibited  the  Spanish  pride, 
and  treated  every  one  with  a  repulsive  coldness  and  offensive 
severity  which  his  father,  in  spite  of  all  his  diplomatic  cold- 
ness, had  never  shown.  Charles  was  to  the  last  beloved  in 
Flanders,  so  lively  was  the  impression  of  his  popularity  in 
his  best  days ;  but  Philip  never  won  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  and  was  at  last  regarded  with  hatred  and  disgust. 
In  conversation  he  was  generally  blunt,  gloomy,  and  concise ; 
he  seldom  granted  any  requests,  and  his  refusals  were  harsh 
and  arrogant ;  in  short,  there  was  not  a  single  amiable  or 
winning  trait  in  his  character. 

Such  a  personage  as  absolute  monarch  of  a  great  empire, 
not  supported  by  great  statesmen,  nor  guided  by  wise  and 
experienced  advisers,  suspicious  of  every  one,  relying  upon 
himself  alone,  and  yet  from  his  limited  abilities  quite  in- 
competent to  his  task,  could  not  fail  to  give  rise  to  great 
anxiety. 

Philip  II.  began  his  government  with  two  simple  ideas, 
with  which  his  whole  soul  was  filled ;  one  was  to  enforce 
the  absolutism  which  he  had  inherited  in  Spain  throughout 
the  whole  empire,  and  then  unconditionally  to  restore  the 
undivided  sway  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

He  was  not  deterred  from  this  project  by  his  father's  ill 
success  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  rather  incited  him  to  attempt  it 
anew,  with  operations  on  a  wider  scale,  and  with  more  utter 
disregard  of  circumstances.  His  father  was  fond  of  pro- 
claiming himself  a  native  of  Flanders,  and  spared  the  sensi- 
tiveness of  the  inhabitants  with  respect  to  liberty,  as  he  did 
that  of  the  Germans ;  but  it  was  Philip's  intention  to  weld 
everything  into  Spanish  form,  and  to  crush  mercilessly  all 
that  would  not  yield.  He  felt  and  gave  himself  out  to  be 
exclusively  a  Spaniard,  and  especially  a  Castilian ;  Aragon 
he  looked  upon  almost  as  a  conquered  country,  and  all  the 
other  provinces  as  bound  to  render  silent  obedience.  In 
Spain  itself  his  father  had  achieved  a  good  deal  before  him; 
the  power  of  the  Cortes  was  gone,  the  liberties  of  the  cities 
since  the  last  unsuccessful  insurrection  greatly  lessened ; 
some  of  the  nobles  were  so  impoverished  as  to  be  in  the 
service  of  the  Crown ;  there  was  a  numerous  aristocracy,  but 
few  of  its  members  were  wealthy  enough  to  be  independent 


PHILIP  II.  283 

of  the  Crown ;  for  those  who  disdained  this  position  there 
was,  according  to  Alba's  view,  no  resource  but  emigration. 

In  no  other  empire  in  the  world  was  the  alliance  be- 
tween spiritual  and  temporal  despotism  so  consistently 
carried  out  as  it  was  in  Spain,  and  nowhere  else  was  the 
Inquisition  so  vigorously  used  as  a  fearful  weapon  in  the 
hands  of  both. 

Things  had  gone  so  far  in  Spain  that  whenever  the 
Crown  was  alarmed  by  any  opposition,  the  spiritual  tribunal 
was  used  as  an  unfailing  lever.  The  last  privileges  of  the 
States  that  were  opposed  to  the  despotism  of  the  Crown 
were  encumbered  and  destroyed  by  the  Inquisition.  Antonio 
Perez,  formerly  a  favourite  of  the  King,  afterwards  the 
victim  of  all  sorts  of  intrigues  at  court,  had  taken  refuge  in 
Aragon,  which  with  its  great  privileges  and  powerful  Cortes 
was  a  sort  of  free  State  in  the  absolute  monarchy,  and  he 
had  there  appealed  to  the  protection  of  the  law,  according 
to  which  he  could  only  be  tried  by  his  equals.  The  Inqui- 
sition was  then  called  in  and  lent  its  aid,  not  only  against 
Perez,  but  against  the  inconvenient  liberties  of  the  Arago- 
nians,  which  were  put  an  end  to  by  the  king's  priests  and 
soldiers. 

In  return  for  this,  the  Church  in  Spain  was  more  favoured 
than  in  any  other  country  in  the  world.  It  was  not  that 
the  spiritual  power  held  sway  over  the  Government — that  is, 
over  the  will  of  the  ruler;  for  Philip  II.  was  the  despot 
still  more  than  the  bigoted  Catholic.  When  Paul  IV. 
sided  with  his  enemies,  he  did  not  disdain  to  send  his 
Spaniards  into  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  to  contend 
earnestly  for  his  rights  at  the  Council  of  Trent.  But  the 
Church  had  enormous  dotations,  a  multitude  of  ecclesias- 
tical institutions,  and  a  power  over  men's  consciences,  their 
lives  and  persons,  such  as  was  equalled  nowhere  else. 

The  country  possessed  58  archbishoprics,  684  bishoprics, 
11,400  monasteries,  23,000  brotherhoods,  46,000  monks, 
13,800  nuns,  312,000  secular  priests,  and  more  than 
400,000  ecclesiastics,  while  there  were  80,000  civil  servants, 
and  367,000  other  officials. 

These  figures  describe  a  State  composed  of  spiritual  and 
temporal  officials,  in  which  society  appears  to  exist  for  them, 
not  they  for  society.  They  also  indicate  an  enormous 
amount  of  property  held  in  mortmain,  and  fatal  conse- 
quences to  the  nation  from  clerical  idleness.  Even  in 


284      SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  V.  AND  PHILIP  II. 

clerical  circles  the  danger  of  this  unnatural  state  of  things 
was  not  altogether  ignored.  In  the  time  of  Philip  III.  the 
primate  of  the  Spanish  Church  advised  the  Crown  not  to 
go  on  founding  monasteries.  There  was  a  fear  that  they 
would  be  smothered  in  their  own  riches. 

The  result  of  this  disproportion  was  that  prosperity  among 
the  people,  to  say  nothing  of  intellectual  life,  was  checked. 
The  accumulation  of  landed  property  in  mortmain  made 
the  existence  of  a  prosperous  race  of  agriculturists  impos- 
sible. This  was  the  fatal  result  of  this  ecclesiastical 
government  in  a  domestic  point  of  view.  The  Inquisition 
produced  the  same  effect  upon  foreign  relations.  Spain, 
where  trade  and  commerce  formerly  flourished,  was  as 
much  shut  up  from  all  foreign  intercourse  as  an  inhospitable 
desert  island.  It  went  so  far,  that  Spain  was  compelled  to 
export  one  of  her  most  important  products  to  be  manufac- 
tured abroad,  because  all  spirit  of  enterprise  was  wanting 
at  home.  Commerce  languished  so  completely  under 
Philip  II.  that  most  of  the  harbours  were  empty,  the  mar- 
kets unfrequented,  there  was  no  commercial  enterprise, 
and  beggary  frightfully  increased.  That  this  was  the  con- 
sequence of  making  the  Government  the  instrument  of 
ecclesiastical  despotism,  the  Spaniards  themselves  have 
placed  beyond  doubt  by  the  publication  during  the  last 
fifty  years  of  irrefragable  evidence  and  convincing  dates. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE   REVOLT  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS.* 

History,  Government,  Country,  and  People  of  the  Seventeen  Provinces 
before  Philip  II. — Philip's  Policy  in  the  Netherlands  after  No- 
vember, 1555. — The  Regency  and  the  Aristocracy:  Orange, 
Egmont,  Margaret  of  Parma,  Bishop  Perrenot  (Granvella). — The 
Spanish  Troops. — The  Increase  of  Bishoprics. — The  Inquisition 
in  the  Netherlands. — Tactics  of  Charles  V. — The  Renewal  of  the 
Edict  of  1550. — Granvella's  Removal,  1564. — Egmont's  Journey 
and  the  Compromise,  January,  1565. —  Spring  of  1566. —  The 
Beggars'  League. — The  Field-preaching  and  Attack  upon  Images, 
April  to  August,  1566. — Defeat  of  the  Volunteer  Army  of  the 
Beggars  at  Anstruveel,  March,  1567. — The  Departure  of  William 
of  Orange  from  the  Netherlands,  April,  1567. 

HISTORY,  GOVERNMENT,  COUNTRY,  AND  PEOPLE  OF  THE 
SEVENTEEN  PROVINCES  BEFORE  THE  TIME  OF  PHILIP  II. 

E  first  revolt  against  this  system  was  not  to  occur  in 
Spain,  but  in  the  Netherlands,  or  Burgundy. 
There  were  seventeen  provinces  which  Charles  V.  had 
left  to  his  son,  and  which  had  become  united  in  the  follow- 
ing manner : — 

The  French  Crown  departed  from  its   principle  of  not 
conferring  large  duchies  on  princes  of  the   royal   family, 

*  Wagenaar,  Vaderlandsche  Historic.  C.  Meteeren,  Niederland 
Historien,  1612.  Strada  de  Bello  Belgico,  1640.  Hoofts,  Neder- 
landsche  Historien,  1703.  Van  der  Vynct,  Hist,  des  Troubles  des 
i  Pays-Bas.  Brux.,  1824.  Van  Kampen,  Geschichte  der  Niederlanden, 
,  1831.  J.  L.  Motley,  Revolt  of  the  Netherlands.  Papiers  d'etat  du 
Card.  Granvella.  Paris,  1842.  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  Correspond. 
Inedite,  1835.  Gachard,  Corresp.  de  Philippe  II.  The  same,  Corresp. 
du  Due  d'Albe,  sur  PInvasion  de  Louis  de  Nassau,  1850.  The  same, 
Corresp.  de  Phil.  II.  et  de  Marguerite  d'Autriche.  The  same,  Corresp. 
de  Guillaume  le  Taciturne,  1850.  Klose,  Wilhelm  von  Oranien, 
Herausgegeben  von  Wuttke.  Holzwarth,  der  Abfall  der  Niederlande, 
1867.  Roch,  Untersuchungen  iiber  den  Abfall  der  Niederlande,  1860. 


286    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

when  King  John  gave  Burgundy  to  his  son,  Philip  the 
Bold,  and  thus  himself  renewed  the  contest  between  the 
high  aristocracy  and  the  Crown.  King  John's  posterity  * 
soon  forgot  that  the  blood  of  the  Capets  flowed  in  their 
veins,  and  felt  themselves  to  be  rather  Dukes  of  Burgundy 
than  vassals  of  the  King  of  France  ;  and  this  was  coincident 
with  the  time  when  the  kingdom  was  weak  and  with  the 
wars  with  England. 

Out  of  this  Duchy  of  Burgundy  there  gradually  grew,  by 
dint  of  purchase,  conquest;  inheritance,  and  not  seldom 
legacy-hunting,  combined  with  force,  a  territory  which,  in 
comparison  with  its  original  nucleus,  might  be  pronounced 
splendid.  Philip  the  Bold  acquired  Flanders,  Artois,  and 
the  free  Earldom  by  marriage ;  Philip  the  Good,  Nassau 
by  exchange  (1428),  by  inheritance,  Brabant  and  Limburg 
(1430),  by  a  sort  of  compulsory  exchange  with  Jacoba  of 
Bavaria,  Remagen,  Holland,  Seeland,  and  West  Friesland 
(1433),  and  Luxemburg  by  exchange  (1443).  Charles  V. 
acquired  Friesland,  Ober-yssel,  Utrecht,  Gelders,  and 
Zutphen.  It  was  thus  that  this  remarkable  empire  was 
formed.  It  had  begun  with  a  portion  of  the  old  principality 
of  Burgundy,  and  extended  itself  by  means  of  Luxemburg 
to  the  frontier  of  Lorraine.  The  whole  of  the  present 
Belgium  belonged  to  it,  part  of  the  Flanders  and  Artois  of 
our  times,  and  the  present  kingdom  of  Holland. 

It  was  Charles  V.  who  first  possessed  this  territory  in  its 
entirety,  and  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  in  1548,  he  carried 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  whereby  it  was  declared  to  be  a 
compact  imperial  territory,  was  to  have  its  own  list  and 
special  privileges  in  the  Diet,  but  was  to  be  free  from  the 
obligations  of  membership  of  the  empire.  It  was  the  duty 
of  the  empire  to  protect  it  from  attack ;  but  it  had  no  right 
of  jurisdiction,  nor  right  to  hold  conventions,  nor  to  de- 
mand obedience  on  things  usually  obligatory  on  imperial 
territories. 

On  the  whole,  Charles's  government  in  these  seventeen 
provinces  was  skilful  and  moderate ;  but  on  one  point  he 
was  inexorable ;  this  was  the  question  of  the  ancient  faith. 
He  took  every  means  in  his  power  to  avert  the  spread  of 

*  Genealogy  of  the  House  of  Burgundy :  John,  King  of  France ; 
his  son,  Philip  the  Bold,  1363-1404;  his  son,  John  the  Good, 
1419 ;  his  son,  Philip  the  Good,  1467  ;  his  son,  Charles  the  Bold, 
H77- 


THE   SEVENTEEN  PROVINCES.  287 

the  new  doctrines,  and  did  not  shrink  from  the  most  cruel 
and  sanguinary  measures  if  he  could  but  maintain  the 
ancient  Church  intact.  Otherwise  he  managed  tolerably 
well  with  the  complicated  laws  of  the  country.  Of  course 
the  republican  atmosphere  did  not  suit  the  Spanish  auto- 
crat, and,  so  far  as  he  could  do  so  without  exciting  too  much 
notice,  he  was  fond  of  interfering  with  the  multitudinous 
local,  civic,  corporative,  and  provincial  privileges  ;  but  he 
showed  his  political  tact  in  generally  trying  to  obtain  his 
ends  by  circuitous  means.  Thus,  though  not  without  a 
struggle,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  more  influence  over  the 
appointment  of  Government  officials,  the  legal  administra- 
tion and  taxation  of  the  wealthy  provinces,  than  any  prince 
of  Burgundy  had  exercised  before.  That  he  did  act  in 
his  difficult  position  with  tact  and  success  is  proved  by  the 
affection  with  which  he  was  regarded.  On  the  last  day  of 
his  government,  the  25th  of  October,  1555,  when,  as  a 
gouty  old  man  leaning  upon  his  crutches,  he  announced 
his  abdication  at  Brussels,  and  presented  his  son  as  his 
successor,  the  universal  emotion  bore  witness  to  his 
popularity. 

The  Netherlanders  were  proud  to  call  him  their  country- 
man, and  it  pleased  him  to  hear  it.  He  really  had  a  certain 
personal  preference  for  this  part  of  his  dominions,  and  had 
made  himself  so  much  at  home  there  that  he  was  looked 
upon  as  the  hereditary  ruler. 

The  country  was  unusually  rich  in  resources.  It  con- 
tained within  itself  abundant  sources  of  prosperity,  and  the 
products  and  modes  of  life  of  the  different  parts  were  very 
various.  Flanders,  Hennegau,  Artois,  and  Namur  were 
rich  corn-bearing  districts,  whose  harvests  could  support 
the  whole  empire;  at  Ghent,  Bruges,  Antwerp,  Brussels, 
and  other  cities,  trade  nourished  as  it  did  nowhere  else  in 
Europe ;  the  arts  of  weaving,  cloth-making,  dyeing,  and 
other  branches  of  industry,  were  carried  to  great  perfection. 
Antwerp  was  a  cosmopolitan  city,  rivalled  by  no  other  in 
the  world ;  at  the  same  time  a  great  portion  of  the  country 
was  washed  by  the  sea,  which  was  the  great  highway  between 
north  and  south,  and,  as  Guicciardini  says,  it  was  "  the 
great  harbour  and  emporium  lor  the  trade  of  the  European 
world." 

All  the  northern  part  of  the  country  was  a  maritime 
district,  partly  gained  from  the  sea  by  artificial  means  ;  part 


288    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

of  it  had  more  sea-coast  than  habitable  land,  and  it  was 
inhabited  by  a  hardy  and  enduring  race  of  old  Frisian 
blood,  who,  with  admirable  perseverance,  had  made  a 
home  for  themselves,  in  spite  of  perpetual  conflict  with  wind 
and  wave.  These  characteristics  remain  to  the  present 
day.  The  Dutch  have  still  been  draining  lakes  and  turning 
them  into  fruitful  soil ;  it  is  the  ancient  Frisian  patience, 
the  Germanic  toughness,  which  has  never  belied  itself  even 
under  the  most  difficult  circumstances.  From  Rotterdam 
to  the  most  northerly  part  of  the  coast  of  Friesland,  there 
was  a  number  of  places,  larger  and  smaller,  which  had 
acquired  importance  as  natural  harbours.  The  habit  of 
living  on  the  sea,  of  familiarity  with  its  perils,  the  taste  for 
a  seafaring  life  and  for  making  voyages  of  discovery,  and 
for  emigration — all  this  existed  in  embryo  before  the  fishing 
villages  had  become  great  harbours  and  centres  of  com- 
merce. 

The  mental  condition  of  the  people  was  not  behind  their 
outward  prosperity.  It  is  expressly  stated  in  histories  of 
the  country  that,  notwithstanding  its  prosaic  devotion  to 
trade  and  commerce,  learning,  the  arts,  and  earnest  en- 
deavours after  improvement,  were  equally  cherished;  that, 
besides  the  universities,  there  were  everywhere  excellent 
schools,  which  had  more  thoroughly  imbibed  the  modern 
humanistic  spirit  than  any  others,  and  that  culture  extended 
even  among  the  people.  "  There  was  no  country,"  says  a 
contemporary  historian,  "  where  learning  and  culture  pre- 
vailed so  widely  as  among  us ;  even  in  the  Frisian  fisher- 
men's huts  you  might  find  people  who  could  not  only  read 
and  write,  but  discussed  scriptural  interpretations  as  if  they 
were  scholars."  Even  if  this  is  an  exaggeration,  it  is  well 
known  that  amidst  their  material  prosperity  a  real  desire  for 
mental  culture  had  spread  among  the  lowest  classes  of  the 
people.  Friends  and  foes  bear  witness  that  in  these 
countries  the  conditions  of  material  and  mental  prosperity 
were  combined  to  a  rare  extent. 

The  seventeen  provinces  differed  from  each  other  both  in 
their  constitutions  and  mode  of  life. 

In  Flanders,  Brabant,  and  Hennegau  there  was  a  landed 
nobility,  whose  estates  were  measured  by  the  square  mile, 
and  many  of  them  were  like  German  princes.  In  the  cities, 
there  was  a  proud  and  independent  class  of  citizens,  who, 
like  the  inhabitants  of  Ghent  not  only  pursued  their 


THE   SEVENTEEN  PROVINCES.  289 

peaceful  crafts,  but  when  necessary  could  also  wage  war ; 
the  citizens  of  Ghent  had  especially  signalised  themselves 
in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  and  had  carried 
on  a  successful  contest  with  the  nobility.  The  ancient 
Frisian  district  was  in  the  north.  The  Frisians  are  the  only 
German  race  which  has  developed  a  democracy  in  which 
nobles  and  royalty  found  no  place ;  the  mode  of  life  of  this 
fishing  and  seafaring  people  was  not  adapted  to  the  develop- 
ment of  an  aristocracy  of  any  kind. 

Thus  there  were  wide  differences,  social  and  political, 
throughout  the  country.  The  seaport  towns  of  the  north 
were  more  powerful  than  the  German  Hanse  Towns  ;  there 
were  neither  great  lords  nor  a  powerful  Church,  and  both 
in  town  and  country  the  pride  of  democratic  independence 
and  self-government  prevailed ;  there  were  no  elements 
likely  to  develope  into  a  monarchical  form  of  government. 

Each  of  the  seventeen  provinces  had  its  own  constitu- 
tion; the  character  of  each  was  determined  by  the  preponde- 
rance of  classes  among  the  people:  in  Flanders  and  Brabant 
it  was  more  aristocratic,  in  the  north  democratic,  but  in  no 
case  monarchical ;  it  was  a  motley  confusion  of  forms  of 
every  kind  with  provincial,  civic,  and  local  privileges,  and 
every  gradation  between  feudalism  and  democracy,  but  the 
prevailing  character  was  a  motley  conglomerate  of  small 
republics,  not  unlike  that  of  ancient  Switzerland,  merely 
bound  together  by  a  monarchy.  In  some  parts  of  the 
north  that  constitution  of  the  civic  aristocracies  had  begun 
to  develope  itseli  which  afterwards  became  the  prevailing 
one  in  Holland. 

The  government  of  a  world  so  constituted  was  both  easy 
and  difficult;  easy,  because  the  variety  of  rights  and 
interests  rendered  any  united  resistance  very  difficult.  Un- 
less these  distinct  elements  united  under  some  one  banner, 
great  commotions  would  be  sure  to  take  place  which  would 
be  fatal  to  all  particular  interests ;  the  most  convenient 
policy  was  to  rule  all  by  means  of  their  divisions.  It  was 
difficult,  because  it  was  necessary,  for  a  policy  which  aimed 
not  only  at  ruling,  but  at  reaping  advantage  from  the 
country,  to  keep  the  people  in  good  humour  by  allowing 
them  their  privileges,  and  consulting  their  feelings  and 
prejudices  ;  for  this  motley  community  was  entirely  one  in 
deeply-rooted  devotion  to  the  ancient  rights  which  were  the 
palladium  of  their  liberties,  and  to  which  they  regarded  all 

u 


2  QO    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

attempts  at  levelling  and  reducing  them  to  uniformity  as 
fatal. 

They  would  not  have  sold  them  to  a  prince  of  their  own 
lineage,  far  less  for  the  sake  of  a  unity  which  the  will  of  a 
despotic  foreigner  would  have  imposed  upon  them. 

On  the  whole,  Charles  V.  formed  a  just  estimate  of  these 
forces  ;  he  contrived  never  to  excite  any  general  opposition; 
he  now  and  then  ventured  on  a  little  despotic  interference, 
but  he  renounced  from  the  first  the  idea  of  establishing  any 
uniform  system  of  administration. 

POLICY  OF  PHILIP  II.  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS,  FROM 
NOVEMBER,  1555. — THE  REGENCY  AND  THE  ARISTO- 
CRACY. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Philip  entered  on 
his  Burgundian  inheritance.  His  first  appearance  in 
the  country  had  not  made  a  favourable  impression.  When 
he  was  introduced,  in  October,  1555,  his  stiff  and  gloomy 
aspect,  his  awkward  and  ungenial  Spanish  manners,  had 
produced  an  unpleasant  effect,  and  it  was  very  unpromising 
that  when  the  States  freely  laid  their  grievances  before 
him,  he  rose  from  the  throne  with  unconcealed  displeasure 
and  angrily  left  the  hall.  In  proportion  as  Charles  had 
been  beloved  for  his  affability,  his  son  was  disliked  for  his 
repelling  coldness.  But  these  were  only  impressions  or 
gloomy  presentiments  which  might  pass  away ;  they  did  not 
as  yet  contain  any  germ  of  revolt. 

Misunderstandings  indeed  could  not  be  prevented  from 
the  first,  but  they  were  caused  by  the  young  monarch's 
practical  measures  rather  than  by  the  impression  he  pro- 
duced. 

The  King  could  not  govern  the  country  himself,  and  had 
therefore  to  choose  a  btadtholder,  who  should  govern  in 
his  name. 

Had  the  opinion  of  the  country  been  consulted,  especially 
that  of  the  spokesmen  of  the  numerous  aristocracy,  the 
answer  would  have  been  unanimous  that  one  from  among 
themselves  should  be  chosen,  whose  name,  wealth,  and 
influence  rendered  him  suitable  for  the  office  of  regent. 

There  was  no  lack  of  candidates  ;  there  were  Count 
Egmont,  and  William  of  Orange,  and  a  number  of  eminent 
and  influential  men,  who  considered  themselves  princes  of 


THE  REGENCY.  291 

the    German   empire,   and   to   whom    it   did   not   appear 
audacious  to  aspire  to  the  office. 

Philip  had  well  considered  the  question,  for  this  wish  had 
been  so  plainly  expressed  to  him  that  he  could  not  fail  to 
understand  it,  but  he  was  determined  not  to  accede  to  it. 
He  distrusted  this  aristocracy  and  feared  its  power.  He 
had  already  had  reports  sent  him  concerning  the  leaders 
among  the  nobles,  and  observations  of  this  sort  are  found 
about  Egmont :  "  Nutat  in  religione  :  whatever  he  may  say 
to-day,  he  will  act  contrary  to  it  to-morrow  :  this  is  the 
gentleman  of  whom  we  hear  the  most  at  present,  and  whom 
the  others  put  forward  to  say  things  that  they  have  not 
courage  to  say  themselves."  Of  William  :  "  He  goes  to 
work  with  more  finesse,  and  is  altogether  in  better  credit 
than  the  other  ;  if  he  could  be  gained  over,  the  others  might 
be  got  into  our  power." 

Both  these  men  were  therefore  early  marked  in  the  black 
book  as  suspicious,  yet  their  previous  conduct  had  given  no 
cause  for  it.  On  the  contrary,  the  position  of  both  had  been 
such  that  they  might  be  regarded  as  the  King's  most  zealous 
servants,  and  as  executants  of  the  royal  will.  Egmont  had 
just  led  a  part  of  the  Spanish  army  against  the  French,  and 
had  brought  the  war  to  a  successful  issue  by  his  victories  at 
St.  Quentin  and  Gravelingen.  It  was  not  easy  to  see  why 
he  excited  the  King's  suspicion  ;  he  was  not  a  character 
likely  to  excite  it ;  he  was  a  distinguished  soldier,  the  pride 
of  his  master,  Charles  V.,  who  had  taken  him  with  him  to 
Tunis  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  as  soon  as  he  was  capable 
of  bearing  arms.  Then  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  lords  in 
Flanders  and  Brabant,  nearly  related  to  some  of  the  princely 
houses  of  Germany,  himself  something  of  a  German  prince, 
but  sincerely  devoted  to  the  royal  house. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  he  was  vain,  and  liable  to  arro- 
gant and  violent  outbursts  of  passion ;  but  he  had  the 
noble  ambition  to  earn  his  sovereign's  favour  by  substantial 
services,  and  every  one  knew  him  to  be  guileless  and  unsus- 
pecting. He  now  and  then  betrayed  the  wounded  pride  of 
the  great  noble,  was  fond  of  receiving  homage,  and  was 
displeased  when  it  was  refused  him.  But  these  failings  were 
on  the  surface;  his  words  were  worse  than  his  thoughts. 
He  had  no  talent  for  machinations  or  intrigues ;  he  was 
open-hearted  and  unsuspicious  ;  utterly  destitute  of  qualities 
likely  to  make  him  dangerous. 


2()2    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Prince  William  of  Orange  (born  1533)  had  already 
entered  into  the  imperial  service  in  the  Netherlands  with 
his  father.  He  had  grown  up  as  a  page  at  the  Emperor's 
court,  and  as  his  avowed  favourite  had  been  entrusted  with 
important  missions,  even  in  his  twentieth  year.  The  world 
then  knew  nothing  of  the  great  qualifications  which  he 
afterwards  displayed  under  the  pressure  of  a  mighty  task  ; 
he  appeared  merely  as  a  clever,  luxurious,  pomp-loving 
cavalier,  in  whom  there  was  not  the  slightest  trace  of  the 
ambition  of  his  later  days. 

His  ancestors  of  Nassau  had  filled  military  and  political 
posts  of  importance  in  the  Netherlands  ;  his  cousin  Renatus 
had  bequeathed  to  him  the  important  heritage  of  Orange  ; 
and  it  was  in  this  that  the  power  of  the  Duke  of  Nassau, 
which  he  also  was,  lay.  His  character  as  a  statesman  will 
evolve  itself  in  the  course  of  the  history  to  which  he  belongs. 
When  Charles  laid  aside  the  imperial  crown,  William  was 
employed  to  convey  it  to  his  brother  Ferdinand ;  and  when 
he  came  to  the  Netherlands  to  abdicate,  and  introduce  his 
son,  he  appeared  with  one  arm  leaning  on  his  crutch,  the 
other  on  William's  shoulder. 

There  was  nothing  in  such  precedents  to  indicate  hostility 
to  the  Crown — at  any  rate,  not  more  than  belonged  to  every 
privileged  position  in  the  State.  Both  men  had  performed 
willing  service  for  the  Emperor ;  they  were  equally  devoted 
to  him.  Both  were  born  and  brought  up  as  Catholics — 
Egmont  rigidly  so  ;  Orange  as  a  man  of  the  world,  by  whom 
religion  was  regarded  as  something  incidental,  which  must 
conform  to  circumstances.  There  could  be  no  idea  of 
religious  fanaticism  in  his  case,  or  even  of  hearty  sympathy 
with  any  creed  ;  and  in  this  he  was  uncommonly  like  his 
patron,  Charles  V. 

Egmont  and  Orange  considered  themselves  equally 
adapted  for  the  office  of  regent.  Whether  the  expectations 
of  the  nobles  should  be  justified  or  not  was  a  question  on 
both  sides  of  which  there  was  something  to  be  said.  It  was 
true  that  it  would  attach  them  to  the  Crown,  if  they  were  in 
the  service  of  the  Government ;  but  it  was  also  true  that  there 
was  some  danger  in  giving  them  so  much  power  ;  for  they 
were  almost  all  deeply  in  debt,  and  would  therefore  be  pre- 
lisposed  to  innovation ;  and  with  the  suspicious  Philip  this 
consideration  prevailed. 

The  aristocracy  had  reckoned  that  if  no  one  from  among 


MARGARET  OF  PARMA.  293 

themselves  were  chosen,  it  would  be  some  person  agreeable 
to  them,  whom  they  would  be  able  to  influence.  They  had 
in  view  a  relative  of  the  Emperor ;  the  Duchess  Christina  of 
Lorraine  was  the  candidate  favoured  by  Orange.  But 
Philip  again  disappointed  them ;  for  instead  of  this  popular 
princess,  Margaret  of  Parma  was  chosen.  Charles's  eldest 
child  was  an  illegitimate  daughter,  whom  it  was  easy  for 
him  in  his  imperial  position  to  pronounce  legitimate,  and  by 
means  of  a  princely  marriage  to  introduce  to  the  dynastic 
circles.  She  was  brought  up  by  the  Emperor's  sister,  Mary 
of  Hungary,  and  married,  when  twelve  years  old,  to  a 
miserable  debauchee,  Alexander  of  Medici,  and  after  his 
death  to  Octavio  Farnese,  afterwards  Duke  of  Parma  and 
Piacenza.  Alexander  Farnese,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished men  of  the  age,  was  the  issue  of  this  marriage. 

Margaret  of  Parma  had  many  masculine  qualities.  She 
was  of  commanding  appearance,  an  enthusiastic  Catholic, 
and  deeply  versed  in  the  arts  of  Spanish  dissimulation. 

This  appointment  did  not  make  a  very  favourable  impres- 
sion. The  lady's  character  was  not  known,  as  we  now 
know  it  from  authentic  documents ;  but  although  her 
mother  was  a  native  of  the  Netherlands,  she  had  become  a 
stranger  to  the  country,  and  it  was  surmised  that  she  would 
govern  in  the  Spanish  spirit,  and  that  was  enough. 

We  have  in  her  correspondence,  edited  by  Reiffenberg 
in  1842  (not  published),  the  most  complete  disclosures  as  to 
her  position,  and  the  spirit  in  which  she  entered  upon  her 
office.  Philip  selected  her  because  she  was  entirely  de- 
pendent upon  him.  He  could  at  any  moment  dismiss  her 
into  her  previous  obscurity,  for  she  had  no  property  of  her 
own,  and  this  he  afterwards  did.  It  appears  plainly  from 
her  letters  that  she  justly  estimated  this  fact,  and  in  her 
delicate  position  she  was  as  subservient  to  every  suggestion 
of  her  brother  as  circumstances  rendered  desirable. 

She  systematically  encouraged  Philip's  distrust  of  the 
aristocracy  of  the  country.  From  the  first  she  brought 
accusations  against  Egmont  and  Orange,  and  was  continu- 
ally casting  oil  upon  the  flames.  Instead  of  conciliating  the 
already  aggrieved  nobles,  she  rudely  repulsed  them. 

With  all  its  complicated  conditions,  the  country  was  in 
itself  difficult  to  govern,  and  she  was  certainly  not  equal  to 
the  task.  Under  any  circumstances,  it  would  have  sur- 
passed a  woman's  powers,  especially  one  possessed  of  so 


294         TIIE   REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

little  loyalty  of  character  as  the  Regent ;  for  her  official 
reports,  compared  with  her  letters,  appear  like  one  great  lie. 
She  was  a  stranger  to  the  country  ;  she  did  not  even  under- 
stand its  language.  Even  if  she  had  not  been  so  disposed, 
she  would  have  been  obliged,  therefore,  to  submit  to  the 
influence  of  others ;  and  her  advisers  were  chosen  in 
accordance  with  her  brother's  will. 

Among  these  there  was  one  in  particular  at  whom  the 
arrows  of  party  spirit  were  soon  aimed.  This  was  Cardinal 
Granvella,  as  he  had  been  called  since  1561.  The  family 
had  come  into  notice  under  Charles  V.  who  was  skilled  in 
discovering  talent.  Nicolas  Perrenot  was  an  obscure  advo- 
cate in  Burgundy,  when  the  Emperor  advanced  him,  and 
made  him  his  most  confidential  minister.  One  of  his  chil- 
dren, Antony  (born  1517),  early  displayed  great  talents  and 
energy,  rapidly  rose  step  by  step  in  ecclesiastical  rank,  and 
was  soon  distinguished  by  the  Emperor's  favour. 

About  1540  we  already  find  him  as  Bishop  of  Arras,  in 
the  Emperor's  train  ;  and  being  a  prelate  of  an  energetic  and 
not  very  pastoral  turn  of  mind,  he  took  part  in  all  the 
Emperor's  journeys  and  battles  like  a  general,  and  as  on 
other  occasions  he  took  a  pleasure  in  not  playing  the  part 
of  a  demure  priest. 

Very  different  opinions  were  formerly  entertained  of  his 
position.  We  have  now  the  means  of  forming  a  precise 
estimate  of  it. 

He  was  an  adroit,  clever,  well-informed  man,  undoubt- 
edly the  most  capable  person  whom  the  Regent  had  about 
her,  a  native  of  the  country,  well  acquainted  with  its  circum- 
stances, an  energetic  worker,  of  colossal  endurance,  and  his 
talent  is  proved  by  the  number  of  well-written  documents 
that  we  possess  by  his  hand.  The  whole  weight  of  the 
Government  rested  on  his  shoulders,  and  he  carried  it  on  in 
blind  devotion  to  the  dictates  and  interests  of  Philip.  He 
might  well  say,  "  I  am  not  a  Fleming :  I  belong  to 
Philip  II." 

Now  that  we  are  in  possession  of  these  letters,  many 
reproaches  that  have  been  cast  upon  him  may  be  con- 
tradicted, but  many  of  his  less  known  weaknesses  are 
brought  to  light.  All  are  agreed  as  to  the  extent  and  cha- 
racter of  his  ambition.  These  letters  also  show  that  he 
obsequiously  entered  into  every  humour  and  idea  of  his 
master,  whose  character  he  had  well  studied ;  and  besides 


CARDINAL  GRANVELLA.  295 

being  a  clever  statesman,  he  was  well  skilled  in  flattery. 
But  it  is  proved  by  these  documents  that  he  perhaps  actu- 
ally opposed  the  increase  of  bishoprics,  the  introduction  ot" 
the  Inquisition,  and  the  execution  of  Egmont,  which  have 
been  ascribed  to  him.  He  was  far  from  being  an  indepen- 
dent character,  who  would  undertake  anything  on  his 
own  responsibility.  He  was  rather  slippery,  as  a  parvenu 
whose  patent  of  nobility  is  his  master's  favour — ready  to 
do  anything,  or  leave  it  undone,  according  to  order.  He 
was  essentially  an  accommodating  character,  not  in  the  least 
like  such  men  as  Alba. 

As  is  usual  in  such  cases,  he  was  abundantly  hated.  He 
was  the  first  man  in  the  Government ;  everything  passed 
through  his  hands  ;  and  he  was,  in  fact,  the  responsible 
agent  of  the  Government,  even  if  he  was  more  or  less  inno- 
cent of  many  things  of  which  he  was  accused. 

He  was  not  likely  to  disarm  prejudice  ;  he  had  all  the 
characteristics  of  a  parvenu ;  he  was  obsequious  to  those 
above  him,  arrogant  and  assuming  to  those  beneath  him  ; 
he  boasted  of  his  ecclesiastical  honours,  first  as  bishop, 
then  as  archbishop,  finally  as  cardinal,  and  he  made  all 
who  entered  his  presence — even  the  first  men  in  the  land — 
offensively  feel  that  he  was  master.  There  were  reasons  for 
which  much  might  be  said  for  not  making  either  Egmont 
or  Orange,  Stadtholder  ;  but  to  place  over  men  of  princely 
rank  a  coarse  plebeian,  the  son  of  an  advocate,  was  not 
wise  ;  it  was  to  avoid  one  evil  by  committing  another,  and 
it  was  one  of  Philip's  most  serious  mistakes. 

Granvella  did  not  understand  how  to  treat  these  great 
lords ;  every  one  of  them  brought  the  same  complaints 
against  him — not  only  the  impetuous  Egmont,  but  Horn 
and  Orange  also,  who  at  first  tried  to  maintain  a  friendly 
understanding  with  him.  They  considered  him  responsible 
for  every  bad  measure,  and  they  were  right;  he  was  the 
soul  of  a  Government  which  had  sworn  death  to  the  liberties 
of  the  Netherlands,  and  he  let  the  princes  feel  that  they  were 
under  his  feet. 

The  form  of  the  Government  was  as  follows.  Besides  the 
Regent,  there  were  three  councillors  who  nominally  shared 
the  business  of  the  country  between  them,  but  who  really 
were  only  tools  of  a  cabinet  from  which  the  Regent  had 
secret  orders  to  receive  all  instructions.  This  consisted  of 
Granvella;  the  learned  Viglius  Van  Aytta,  a  vacillating, 


296    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

untrustworthy  character,  of  whom  even  his  own  party  said 
that  he  was  to  be  had  for  money,  and  that  his  credit  was 
doubtful ;  and  Barlaymont,  who  was  one  of  the  nobility,  but 
who  was  therefore  regarded  as  all  the  more  inexcusable 
for  holding  his  head  in  his  pride  of  office  above  the  great 
nobles. 

FIRST  DIFFERENCES. — THE  SPANISH  SOLDIERY. — THE 
INCREASE  OF  BISHOPRICS,  1560-61. 

This  was  the  position  of  the  new  Government  in  1559. 
It  was  an  administration  by  strangers  and  upstarts,  whose 
creed,  political  and  religious,  was  directly  at  enmity  with 
the  sentiments  of  the  nation,  and  who,  however  able  they 
might  otherwise  be,  could  but  increase  the  variance  which 
was  beginning  to  appear. 

The  aristocracy  were  as  yet  far  from  any  thought  of 
revolt,  but  they  thought  themselves  entitled  to  certain 
privileges  and  favours.  Under  Charles  V.  they  had  been 
employed  in  all  important  posts ;  it  had  perhaps  been 
Charles's  intention  thereby  to  connect  their  interests  with 
his  own,  but  perhaps  also  to  ruin  them  financially ;  at  all 
events,  he  effected  that  they  should  spend  extravagantly  in 
his  service. 

Historians  all  agree  that  the  nobles  of  the  Netherlands 
took  service  under  Charles's  pompous  government  at  enor- 
mous expense  to  themselves ;  that  they  rivalled  each  other 
in  a  magnificence  which  ruined  families  of  great  wealth,  and 
involved  nearly  all  in  debt.  The  Emperor's  commissions 
and  the  places  he  bestowed  were  very  honourable  and 
splendid  ;  but  they  brought  nothing  in,  and  involved  the 
expenditure  of  private  property.  The  debts  of  William  of 
Orange  were  said  to  amount  to  900,000  florins,  of  which 
a  considerable  part  was  incurred  by  the  cost  of  imperial 
embassies.  The  great  lords  could  not  forget  this.  Then 
they  had  hoped  to  effect  a  successful  issue  of  the  war  with 
France,  and  for  this  also  they  had  made  sacrifices.  Besides 
this,  there  had  been  a  famine  in  the  Netherlands,  and  the 
largest  demands  had  been  made  on  the  largest  landowners. 
For  these  services  the  aristocracy  claimed  the  gift  of  offices 
and  dignities  ;  but  their  claims  were  partly  unwisely  refused, 
and  partly  met  by  insignificant  requital. 

Still,  this  would   not   have  been  enough  to   excite  the 


FIRST  DIFFERENCES.  297 

Netherlands  to  revolt ;  it  would  have  taken  a  long  time,  for 
the  fact  that  the  Government  had  not  conciliated  even  so 
influential  a  portion  of  the  population,  to  have  acquired  so 
much  importance.  It  was  only  to  a  partial  extent  that  the 
people  made  the  cause  of  the  disappointed  nobles  their 
own,  though  they  would  rather  have  seen  an  Egmont  or 
Orange  at  their  head,  instead  of  a  Spanish  Camarilla.  But 
of  the  national  aversion  of  the  Netherlands  to  the  Spaniards 
there  was  no  doubt ;  they  hated  each  other  as  two  distinct 
nations  under  the  same  sceptre  always  have  done  ;  and  the 
new  Government  was  assiduous  in  exaggerating  rather  than 
in.  lessening  these  relations. 

Philip  II.  began  by  garrisoning  the  country  with  his 
troops.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  war  with  France,  there 
was  no  reason  for  delaying  to  disband  the  army.  But  a 
portion  of  the  Spanish  troops  were  quartered  in  the  Nether- 
lands, perhaps  at  first  with  the  idea  that  they  should  be 
supported  at  the  expense  of  the  country,  but  with  an 
obvious  afterthought  that  they  might  be  required  against  an 
enemy  who,  after  the  peace,  could  only  be  found  within  it. 
The  quartering  of  foreign  troops  was  opposed  to  the  spirit 
of  the  privileges  of  all  the  provinces  ;  besides  which,  after 
the  famine,  from  which,  during  the  previous  year,  every 
class  had  suffered,  it  was  an  intolerable  burden.  No  one 
could  see  why  they  should  support  a  few  thousand  brutal, 
famishing  Spanish  soldiers,  for  whose  perpetual  presence  no 
good  reason  could  be  given.  The  burden  affected  all,  and 
the  grievance  was  therefore  general  and  popular  ;  the  bitter 
feeling  excited  by  it  in  some  places  was  so  great  that  in 
Zealand  they  declared  that  they  would  all  rather,  men, 
women,  and  children,  be  drowned  in  the  waves  than  put  up 
with  the  shameful  treatment  of  the  Spanish  soldiery  any 
longer. 

The  impossibility  of  retaining  these  soldiers,  whom 
Philip  required  for  his  Inquisition,  became  so  obvious,  that 
even  Granvella  and  the  Regent  doubted  whether  it  would 
do  to  exasperate  the  people  any  longer.  They  represented 
to  the  King  that  if  the  troops  were  not  removed,  not  a 
penny  more  would  come  into  the  treasury  from  these  rich 
provinces ;  and  Granvella  wrote  :  "  It  cuts  me  to  the  heart 
to  see  the  Spanish  troops  depart,  but  if  the  imminent  danger 
of  a  revolt  in  the  provinces  is  to  be  avoided,  it  must  be." 
They  almost  dismissed  them  on  their  own  responsibility  at 


298    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

the  beginning  of  1561,  and  just  then  a  sufficient  pretext 
occurred  for  employing  them  abroad. 

But  the  King,  who  wrote  very  angry  despatches  about  it, 
was  certain  that  nothing  was  to  be  done  in  this  case  by 
concessions ;  whenever  it  was  possible,  sharp  and  decisive 
measures  must  be  taken,  and  if  it  did  cost  a  few  heads,  that 
was  of  no  moment.  He  himself  defended  Granvella  from 
the  reproach  of  having  advised  him  to  cut  off  half-a-dozen 
heads  ;  he  had  done  no  such  thing,  though  if  he  had  "  it 
would  not  have  been  so  much  amiss."  And  this  at  a  time 
when  as  yet  not  a  finger  was  raised  in  revolt ! 

To  this  exasperation  about  the  soldiers  another  was  added. 
A  plan  was  conceived  of  increasing  the  number  of  bishop- 
rics, and  of  making  the  new  ones  organs  of  the  Inquisition. 

In  this  wealthy  country,  with  a  population  of  three 
million  souls,  there  were  only  four  bishoprics — Arras,  Cam- 
bray,  Tournay  in  the  southern,  and  Utrecht  in  the  northern 
provinces.  This  appeared  to  Philip  very  disproportionate 
when  he  compared  it  with  Spain,  so  thickly  sown  with  spiri- 
tual shepherds.  He  proposed  to  multiply  the  number  four- 
fold. Pope  Paul  IV.  zealously  entered  into  the  project ;  in 
the  bull  confirmed  by  his  successor,  Pius  II.,  January,  1560, 
it  was  stated  that  it  was  urgently  necessary  to  plant  new 
bishoprics  in  these  blessed  pastures.  "  The  enemy  of  man- 
kind was  working  in  such  manifold  forms,  the  Netherlands 
were  so  encompassed  by  heretical  and  schismatical  nations, 
that  everything  was  to  be  feared  for  its  spiritual  safety.  The 
harvest  was  plenteous,  but  the  labourers  were  few,"  &c. 
But  the  clergy  of  the  Netherlands  thought  otherwise ;  they 
were  not  only  strongly  leavened  with  the  philosophy  of 
Erasmus,  but  they  feared  that  this  multiplication  of  bishop- 
rics would  diminish  their  incomes — a  reason  which  at  first 
caused  Granvella,  as  Bishop  of  Arras,  to  be  against  it.  The 
people  would  not  hear  of  it.  If  the  object  were  only  to 
increase  the  pomp  and  luxury  of  the  Catholic  Church,  it 
would  only  furnish  this  sober,  commercial  people  with  an 
expensive  luxury.  They  had  been  good  Catholics  for  cen- 
turies with  only  four  bishoprics  ;  what  did  they  want  with 
more?  But  if,  as  was  to  be  feared,  the  object  were  to 
multiply  the  tribunals  for  heretics,  tremendous  danger  was 
bound  up  with  it.  Besides,  the  charters  of  Holland  and 
Brabant,  especially  the  "  Joyeuse  Entree "  of  the  latter, 
expressly  required  the  consent  of  the  States  to  every  increase 


THE  EDICTS.  2  99 

of  the  clergy.  It  was  one  of  the  conditions  which  the  ruler 
had  sworn  to  abide  by,  and  must  keep  to,  unless  the  sub- 
jects were  to  be  released  from  the  obligations  imposed  by 
treaty  upon  them.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  everywhere 
reported  that  there  was  an  intention  to  introduce  the  Spanish 
Inquisition.*  At  all  events,  it  was  expressly  stated  in  the 
bull  that  each  of  the  new  bishops  was  to  nominate  a  number 
of  prebendaries,  to  support  him  in  the  Inquisition  ;  and  Gran- 
vella  himself  received  the  title  of  Grand  Inquisitor. 

THE  INQUISITION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Even  Charles  V.  had  been  nearly  as  severe  against  the 
new  doctrines  in  the  Netherlands  as  in  Spain,  and  this  had 
given  great  dissatisfaction.  But  between  1520  and  1530, 
the  spread  of  heresy  had  not  been  very  great.  The  first 
measure  which  had  been  taken  against  the  Reformation  was 
the  promulgation  of  the  Edict  of  Worms,  and  the  placing 
of  all  books,  teaching,  teachers,  and  confessors  of  the  new 
gospel  under  an  interdict,  and  this  law  was  carried  out  with 
sanguinary  severity.  In  1522  some  Reform  movements  had 
taken  place  among  the  Augustine  Order  at  Brussels,  and 
the  culprits  were  at  once  seized  and  burnt.  For  years  the 
most  cruel  sentences  had  been  pronounced  upon  apostates, 
and  at  the  close  of  Charles's  reign  the  number  of  those 
who,  often  on  frivolous  charges,  had  been  strangled,  burnt, 
beheaded,  or  buried  alive,  was  by  some,  among  them 
Hugo  Grotius,  set  down  as  one  hundred  thousand ;  and  by 
none  at  less  than  fifty  thousand.  The  spirit  of  the  imperial  sen- 
tences, the  notorious  "  edicts,"  is  best  seen  from  that  of  the 
25th  of  November,  1550,  which  Charles  proclaimed  in  the 
elation  of  his  triumph  at  Augsburg,  and  in  which  all  the 
previous  ones  were  summed  up. 

The  next  step  was  to  repeat  an  edict  of  24th  October, 
1529,  in  which  it  was  forbidden  to  print,  copy,  multiply, 
keep,  conceal,  buy,  sell,  or  give  away  any  work  of  Martin 
Luther,  CEcolampadius,  Zwingli,  Bucer,  Calvin,  or  any  other 
heretic.  It  was  forbidden  to  destroy,  or  in  any  way  injure, 
any  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary  or  any  canonised  saint;  to 

*  Whether  the  introduction  of  the  "  Spanish  "  Inquisition,  or  the 
increase  of  the  severity  of  the  Inquisition  of  the  Netherlands  was 
intended,  it  is  all  one.  The  latter  was  undoubtedly  Philip's  intention, 
according  to  his  open  declaration  even  before  he  returned  to  Spain. 


300    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

hold  or  attend  any  heretical  conventicle  ;  and  the  laity  were 
admonished  that  they  were  neither  to  read  the  Scriptures 
nor  to  take  part  in  any  discussions  or  controversies  respect- 
ing them,  under  pain  of  a  variety  of  barbarous  punishments. 
Such  miscreants  were  to  be  put  to  death  as  disturbers  of  the 
public  peace  and  order  by  the  following  methods  :  the 
men  by  the  sword,  the  women  to  be  buried  alive — if  they 
recanted ;  but  if  they  are  obstinate,  they  are  all  to  be  burnt : 
in  either  case,  all  their  property  was  to  be  confiscated.  He 
who  omitted  to  accuse  persons  suspected  of  heresy,  gave 
them  shelter,  food,  fuel,  or  clothing,  was  to  be  regarded  as 
a  heretic  himself.  People  who  had  not  been  convicted  of 
heresy,  but  were  suspected  of  it,  and  required  by  the  eccle- 
siastical judges  to  abjure  such  heresy,  if  they  rendered 
themselves  suspicious  again,  were  to  be  treated  without 
mercy,  and  punished  with  loss  of  life  and  property.  An 
informer,  in  case  of  conviction  of  the  accused,  was  to  re- 
ceive the  half  of  his  property  when  it  did  not  exceed  one 
hundred  Flemish  florins ;  when  more,  ten  per  cent,  of  the 
excess.  He  who  attended  at  a  conventicle,  and  afterwards 
informed  against  the  others,  was  exempted  from  punishment. 

And  all  these  ordinances  were  meant  in  fearful  serious- 
ness, for  at  the  end  it  says,  "  In  order  that  the  judges  and 
officials  may  not  suppose,  under  pretext  that  these  penalties 
are  too  heavy,  and  are  only  meant  to  intimidate,  that  the 
culprits  may  be  treated  with  less  severity,  it  is  ordained  that 
the  guilty  shall  be  punished  without  fail ;  and  the  judges  are 
forbidden  to  change  or  modify  the  sentences  in  any  way." 
No  one  might  intercede  for  a  heretic,  or  give  in  any  petition 
for  one,  under  pain  of  forfeiting  his  rights  as  a  citizen,  and 
other  arbitrary  punishments. 

Queen  Mary  of  Hungary,  the  Emperor's  sister,  was  so 
shocked  at  the  edict  that  she  went  herself  to  Augsburg  to 
petition  that  it  might  be  mitigated ;  but  all  that  the  Emperor 
conceded  was  the  substitution  of  the  words  "  ecclesiastical 
judges "  for  "  inquisitors."  Philip  II.  was  right  when  he 
once  said,  "  What  do  we  want  with  a  new  Inquisition  there  ? 
the  present  one  is  bad  enough." 

As  early  as  1521,  Charles  V.  appointed  a  general  inquisi- 
tor, with  adjutants,  to  carry  out  his  decrees.  In  1525,  these 
were  replaced  by  three  superior  inquisitors,  and  thus  the 
institution  from  time  to  time  made  progress,  and  it  was  not 
merely  independent  of  the  clergy  of  the  Netherlands — they 


THE  EDICTS.  301 

were  entirely  subjected  to  it :  so  that  every  ecclesiastic,  even 
up  to  the  bishops,  was  as  devoid  of  rights  before  the  Inqui- 
sition as  any  layman;  and  in  April,  1550,  all  provisions  in 
the  charters,  which  were  opposed  to  these  edicts  concerning 
heresy,  were  declared  null  and  void. 

In  accordance  with  his  father's  solemn  and  repeated 
instructions,  Philip  had  fully  confirmed  and  renewed  all 
this  in  the  first  month  of  his  government,  November,  1555, 
but  meanwhile  the  aspect  of  religion  in  the  Netherlands 
had  entirely  altered. 

Charles  V.'s  Inquisition  had  effected  almost  nothing  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  old  faith.  Every  year  a  number  of 
cruel  executions  had  taken  place,  and  a  certain  Titelmans  * 
had  administered  the  dreadful  laws  with  all  the  fana- 
ticism of  an  unscrupulous  renegade.  But  in  this  case, 
as  in  others,  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of 
the  Church.  The  most  sanguinary  strictness  did  not  in 
the  least  prevent  the  spread  of  the  new  doctrines,  which  at 
the  time  of  the  first  measures  against  them  numbered  very 
few  followers,  but  by  the  time  of  the  Edict  of  1550  they 
had  increased  tenfold.  Ten  thousand  fugitives  were  already 
living  abroad  on  account  of  their  faith;  but  as  only  the 
wealthy  could  afford  this,  these  figures  imply  a  very  consi- 
derable number  of  converts  who  were  not  intimidated  by 
the  barbarous  Inquisition. 

The  complaints  against  Philip,  who  was  only  carrying 
out  his  father's  laws,  and  who  during  the  war  with  France 
had  somewhat  relaxed  the  persecution  of  the  heretics,  were 
therefore  only  so  far  justified,  in  that  it  was  believed  from 
some  of  his  expressions  that  he  would  outdo  his  father,  and 
that  since  heresy  had  spread  so  widely  he  would  double  or 
treble  the  old  severity.  Complaint  alter  complaint  reached 
the  Regent,  and  through  her  the  King,  from  Egmont  and 
Orange,  of  Granvella  and  the  Spanish  policy.  This  con- 
vinced Philip  that  Granvella  was  just  the  man  for  the 
Netherlands,  and  that  these  two  lords  must  be  regarded  as 
the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  the  country.  He  conceived 
a  violent  hatred  of  Egmont,  although  he  found  it  prudent 
to  conceal  it  for  a  time,  and  forgot  all  the  services  that  he 
had  rendered  to  the  kingdom. 

The  years   1562-3-4  passed  away  amidst  irritation  and 

*  See  Motley. 


302    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

excitement.  The  Inquisition  pursued  its  fearful  course ; 
bitter  hatred  raged  in  the  country  ;  the  aristocracy  warned 
and  protested,  and  adopted  the  not  unskilful  plan  of  sparing 
the  Regent  and  attacking  Granvella,  accusing  him  of  being 
her  guilty  and  responsible  adviser. 

The  Regent  at  first  watched  the  storm  with  displeasure, 
and  then  with  malicious  satisfaction.  The  wily  Italian  said 
to  herself  that  if  any  one  must  fall  it  had  better  be  Granvella 
than  herself;  she  therefore  suddenly  changed  her  tactics. 
Having  first  defended  Granvella,  she  now  accused  him  of 
being  the  cause  of  all  the  discontent ;  but  Granvella  did  not 
alter  his  course. 

Philip  II.  seemed  soon  disposed  to  make  a  concession. 
He  told  his  sister  that  he  saw  that  it  would  be  difficult  to 
retain  Granvella,  and  that  his  dismissal  was  perhaps  inevi- 
table. At  the  same  time  he  wrote  a  confidential  letter  to 
Granvella,  in  which  he  proposed  to  him  to  withdraw  into 
his  native  Burgundy  for  a  time,  until  the  ill-will  against  him 
had  blown  over :  it  should  not  be  any  disadvantage  to  him, 
and  he  had  nothing  to  fear  for  his  person  or  position :  "  for 
I  regard  your  interest  and  honour  as  my  own." 

Thus  we  find  duplicity  on  every  side.  This  is  the  most 
repulsive  feature  in  all  these  complications,  and  it  is  there- 
fore unreasonable  to  ascribe  all  the  blame  to  any  one  person. 
The  great  nobles  were  not  sincere,  for  they  mixed  up  their 
private  affairs  with  the  complaints  as  to  the  public  grievances ; 
the  Regent  was  not  sincere,  for  she  sacrificed  the  man  whose 
system  she  had  long  regarded  as  her  own,  and  which  was 
unchanged ;  but  the  most  insincere  of  all  was  Philip,  for 
he  removed  his  tool  in  apparent  displeasure,  and  yet  was 
resolved  to  carry  out  his  system  to  the  utmost. 

So  in  1564  Granvella  was  removed,  with  the  ostensible 
object  of  reconciling  his  opponents  to  the  Crown,  but  really 
to  withdraw  him  from  the  universal  hatred.  The  institution 
of  the  new  bishoprics  proceeded  at  a  rapid  pace ;  the 
Inquisition  was  reorganized  with  fresh  energy  and  severity, 
though  on  the  basis  of  the  old  Edicts.  Tribunals  were 
established  in  every  province,  the  express  purpose  of  which 
was  to  enforce  to  the  utmost  the  imperial  Edicts.  One 
execution  followed  quickly  upon  another,  judicial  murders 
with  most  revolting  details ;  every  preacher  of  the  new 
doctrines,  every  one  even  suspected  of  heresy,  was  con- 
demned and  executed.  A  former  Carmelite  monk,  Fabricius, 


EXECUTIONS.  303 

who  was  much  followed  as  a  preacher  at  Antwerp,  was 
seized,  placed  upon  the  rack,  and  executed.  A  great 
popular  outbreak  had  followed,  which  plainly  showed  the 
feeling  of  the  masses.  But  no  warning  was  taken,  the 
religious  terrorism  increased,  and  if  any  proof  was  needed 
that  Granvella's  recall  was  no  sign  of  a  return  to  better 
paths  it  was  furnished  by  this. 

Before  Granvella  was  recalled  the  nobles  had  refused  to 
attend  the  Council  of  State  any  longer.  They  had  effected 
his  fall  and  had  returned,  but  now  they  were  made  respon- 
sible for  things  that  they  abhorred.  They  felt  that  they  had 
been  ill  used,  and  that  the  man  whom  they  hated  had  only 
been  sacrificed  in  order  ruthlessly  to  carry  on  his  still  more 
hateful  system.  When  the  King  was  about  to  have  the 
decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  proclaimed  they  were  roused 
to  resistance;  Orange  made  a  powerful  speech  in  the 
Council,  which  occasioned  the  President  Viglius  an  attack 
of  apoplexy  which  nearly  proved  fatal,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined to  send  Egmont  to  Madrid,  in  order  to  open  the 
eyes  of  the  ill-informed  King,  to  represent  to  him  that  the 
hour  of  the  Government,  as  it  had  been,  was  come,  and  that 
the  system  of  bishops  and  executioners,  Edicts  and  Inquisi- 
tions, was  no  longer  tenable.  Count  Egmont  seemed  to  be 
specially  adapted  for  the  mission;  he  was  a  zealous  Catholic, 
a  distinguished  general,  and  as  loyal  a  subject  as  any 
Spaniard.  Orange  did  not  anticipate  much  good  from  this 
step,  for  he  was  convinced  that  the  King  was  playing  a 
double  game,  but  it  appeared  at  the  moment  to  be  the  only 
thing  to  be  done. 

EGMONT'S  JOURNEY  AND  THE  COMPROMISE,  1565-6. 

Egmont  set  out  for  Spain  in  1565.  The  King  looked 
forward  to  his  arrival  with  deep  dissatisfaction,  but  his 
reception  was  all  that  could  be  desired.  He  was  feted  as 
the  victor  of  St.  Quentin  and  Gravelingen,  and  treated  with 
the  greatest  distinction ;  the  design  was  to  intoxicate  the 
vain  man  with  flattery  and  honour,  and  it  succeeded  per- 
fectly. He  had  interviews  with  the  King,  who  appeared  to 
the  guileless  count  utterly  different  from  the  system  in  the 
Netherlands  ;  he  was  good-will  and  cordiality  itself.  He 
seemed  willing  to  put  an  end  to  some  of  the  grievances, 
and  even  in  matters  of  faith  to  yield  as  far  as  his  conscience 


304    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

would  permit.  Egmont  himself  did  not  want  any  favour 
shown  to  the  new  doctrines ;  he  only  wished  that  the 
perpetual  executions  should  be  put  an  end  to,  for  they 
promoted  heresy  more  than  anything  else.  The  King  did 
not  seem  disinclined  to  meet  his  wishes.  The  count  was  not 
disturbed  by  the  snares  and  reservations  in  his  answers;  he 
thought  everything  had  been  attained  when  the  King 
declared  his  willingness  to  submit  the  matter  to  another 
trial,  and  departed,  as  he  himself  wrote,  "  the  happiest  man 
in  the  world." 

Overjoyed  at  having  accomplished  so  much,  Egmont 
returned  home,  and  reported  that  the  King  was  the  best 
man  in  the  world  ;  it  was  only  his  counsellors  who  were 
executioners ;  he  had  gone  into  everything  in  the  most 
friendly  manner,  had  graciously  promised  that  all  the 
evils  should  be  mitigated,  that  the  nuisance  of  the  execu- 
tions should  cease,  yet  that  the  unity  of  the  Church  should 
not  suffer. 

Very  different  were  the  instructions  received  by  the 
Regent  soon  after  Egmont's  return  ;  they  enjoined  that  the 
old  edicts  should  be  strictly  enforced ;  there  was  nothing 
about  reforms,  nothing  about  concessions,  and  this  was  soon 
publicly  known. 

Orange  saw  that  his  friend  had  been  utterly  deceived  ; 
the  people  shook  their  heads  at  the  discrepancy,  and 
Egmont  was  beside  himself  with  rage  and  scorn. 

The  King  had  "played  the  part  of  a  cowardly  despot,  who 
had  not  the  courage  to  declare  his  sentiments  to  the  count ; 
while  he  was  so  friendly  to  his  face,  he  was  taking  care  that 
not  the  least  concession  should  be  made. 

Some  fruitless  negotiations  took  place  with  the  bishops 
and  doctors  of  theology,  and  then,  at  the  King's  express 
command,  it  was  decreed  in  the  council  that  the  decrees 
of  the  Council  of  Trent,  the  Edicts,  and  the  Inquisition, 
should  be  promulgated  in  every  city  and  village  every  six 
months. 

As  this  decree  was  being  passed,  Orange  whispered  to 
his  neighbour  that  before  long  the  most  extraordinary 
tragedy  would  begin  that  had  ever  -been  played  on  earth, 
and  during  the  next  few  days  the  worst  forebodings  were 
rife.  The  effect  of  the  new  proclamations  was  indescribable ; 
they  were  received  with  the  horror  that  forebodes  a  national 
catastrophe;  it  was  as  if  the  blood  had  been  suddenly 


THE  KING'S  DISSIMULATION.  305 

congealed  in  the  nation's  veins.  Trade  was  at  an  end, 
foreign  merchants  fled,  the  manufactories  were  idle,  the 
stillness  of  death  fell  over  Antwerp,  the  capital  of  this 
flourishing  mercantile  State,  and  the  universal  exasperation 
burst  forth  in  a  flood  of  passionate  pamphlets  and  appeals 
which  no  Inquisition  could  stem. 

In  a  public  letter  to  the  King,  the  independent  and 
manly  spirit  of  those  who  were  threatened  with  loss  of 
liberty  of  conscience  was  strikingly  expressed  :  "  We  are 
ready  to  die  for  the  Gospel,  but  we  read  therein,  '  Render 
unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the 
things  that  are  God's.'  We  thank  God  that  even  our 
enemies  are  constrained  to  bear  witness  to  our  piety  and 
innocence,  for  it  is  a  common  saying,  '  He  does  not  swear, 
for  he  is  a  Protestant.'  '  He  is  not  an  immoral  man  or  a 
drunkard,  for  he  belongs  to  the  new  sect ; '  and  yet  we  are 
subjected  to  every  kind  of  punishment  that  can  be  invented 
to  torment  us." 

The  position  of  the  aristocracy,  in  relation  to  the  King's 
policy,  gradually  became  clearer.  Their  undecided  bearing 
had  often  laid  them  open  to  the  charge  of  selfishness,  but 
this  was  the  case  no  longer ;  the  time  had  come  when  they 
had  to  choose  between  being  hammer  or  anvil.  They  were 
justified  in  complaining  of  grievances  so  bitter,  and  would 
have  lost  all  the  people's  confidence  if  they  had  not  now 
taken  an  independent  part. 

The  idea  began  to  prevail  among  the  party  of  the  young 
and  passionate  nobles,  not  altogether  consisting  of  pure 
elements,  that  they  must  put  an  end  to  half  measures,  and 
boldly  take  the  initiative. 

Count  Louis  of  Nassau,  more  fiery  than  his  brother 
William,  and  more  inclined  to  radical  views,  took  great 
pains  to  bring  about  an  understanding  among  the  nobles ; 
he  was  a  distinguished  soldier,  and  a  man  of  the  greatest 
moral  courage.  He  was  supported  as  adviser  and  diplo- 
matic ally  by  the  learned  St.  Aldegonde,  surpassed  by  few 
as  a  theologian,  soldier,  author,  and  orator,  and  a  thorough 
patriot.  There  were  others  of  less  blameless  character, 
such  as  Count  Brederode,  a  man  of  adventurous  courage, 
but  strongly  tainted  with  the  libertinism  of  the  nobles.  He 
was  deeply  involved  in  pecuniary  difficulties,  and  therefore 
not  above  suspicion  that  he  was  speculating  on  a  revolution 
which  might  place  him  personally  in  a  better  position. 

x 


306    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

It  was  a  mixed  company  of  sincere  enthusiasts,  secret 
Protestants,  discontented  nobles,  and  selfish  schemers,  who 
during  the  first  half  of  1566  united  in  a  Compromise,  in 
order  energetically  to  oppose  the  King's  system,  at  first  by 
legal  methods. 

About  five  hundred  nobles,  who  were  afterwards  joined 
by  many  of  the  burgher  class,  bound  themselves  by  this 
Compromise  to  unite  in  opposing  Spanish  tyranny  and  the 
Inquisition,  which  were  ruining  the  country,  and  any 
violence  which  should  be  offered  to  any  of  them.  They 
had  no  thought  of  revolt  or  insurrection ;  they  wished  rather 
to  defend  the  rights  of  the  monarch  and  to  put  down  dis- 
turbances. 

The  former  leaders  of  the  aristocracy,  Egmont,  Orange, 
and  Horn,  took  no  part  in  it ;  they  saw  that  most  serious 
consequences  must  result  from  such  measures,  and  that  the 
strength  of  the  League  was  altogether  insufficient  to  avert 
them.  Orange  especially  stood  aloof,  although  by  repeated 
remonstrances  he  had  removed  all  doubt  as  to  his  opinion 
on  the  main  question,  the  Inquisition.  He  knew  the  mixed 
character  of  the  League,  and  what  must  come  of  a  con- 
spiracy the  members  of  which  gave  vent  to  their  zeal  in 
wild  speeches,  amidst  the  clashing  of  glasses  at  banquets ; 
but  he  could  do  nothing  to  prevent  it ;  they  had  begun  to 
play  their  part,  and  the  passions  of  the  young  nobles  would 
have  play. 

A  great  demonstration  was  decided  on  for  the  spring  of 
1566;  the  cavaliers  of  the  League  were  to  go  in  solemn 
procession  to  the  Regent,  and  hand  in  a  petition,  praying 
for  mitigation  of  the  Edicts  and  the  abolition  of  the  In- 
quisition. 

THE  BEGGARS,  THE  FIELD  PREACHERS,  AND  THE 
DESTRUCTION  OF  IMAGES. 

The  procession  took  place  on  the  5th  April,  1 566.  The 
flower  of  the  young  nobility  appeared,  two  or  three  hundred 
strong,  in  splendid  attire,  before  the  Regent's  palace  at 
Brussels,  and  Brederode  read  the  address  in  a  solemn 
assembly  of  the  Council.  The  petitioners  therein  renewed 
their  assurances  of  loyalty,  and  protested  against  the 
calumnies  of  those  who  accused  them  of  planning  revolt ; 
but,  although  in  a  tolerably  respectful  tone,  they  depicted 


THE   BEGGARS.  307 

the  distress  of  the  provinces  in  lively  colours,  and  requested 
that  until  a  special  ambassador  should  have  procured  the 
abolition  of  the  Edicts  from  the  King,  the  Regent  should 
at  least  suspend  them. 

When  the  Duchess,  who  during  this  scene  had  hardly 
been  able  to  master  her  excitement,  summoned  the  Council 
at  once  to  consider  the  subject,  Barlaymont  endeavoured  to 
pacify  her,  representing  that  she  need  not  fear  "  this  troop 
of  beggars ;  "  if  the  answer  depended  upon  him  alone,  it 
should  be  given  in  blows,  and  they  should  go  down  the 
palace  stairs  faster  than  they  had  come  up. 

Barlaymont's  words  have  become  immortal ;  as  soon  as 
it  went  round  that  these  noble  cavaliers  had  been  insulted 
by  an  upstart,  the  nickname  became  a  title  of  honour. 

The  Duchess  gave  a  well-meaning  but  evasive  answer. 
The  three  hundred  petitioners  met  at  a  banquet  on  the  8th 
of  April.  Barlaymont's  words  were  discussed,  and  when 
they  were  consulting  as  to  a  suitable  name  for  the  League, 
Brederode  rose  and  said,  "They  call  us  Beggars;  let  us 
adopt  the  name.  We  will  resist  the  Inquisition,  but  we 
will  remain  true  to  the  King  and  to  the  Beggars'  wallet." 
Then  he  called  for  a  leathern  pouch,  such  as  was  worn  by 
vagrant  beggars,  drank  off  a  wooden  bowl  of  wine  at  one 
draught,  and  set  it  down  with  the  words  :  "  Vivent  les 
gueux."  Amidst  cheers  and  laughter  the  pouch  and  bowl 
went  round  the  table  :  the  League  had  been  christened. 

The  party  had  a  symbol,  and  a  token  was  given  for  the 
masses.  Up  to  this  time  the  contest  had  been  confined  to 
the  upper  grades  of  society,  the  secrecy  of  cabinets,  and 
diplomatic  transactions.  Now  that  the  great  lords  had  to  a 
certain  extent  formed  a  league  of  brotherhood  with  the 
common  people,  the  exasperated  populace  said  among 
themselves,  "These  shall  be  our  leaders,"  and  more 
resulted  from  it  than  the  carousers  at  the  banquet,  or  the 
great  '  Beggar,'  Brederode,  expected  or  wished.  The  Beg- 
gars' symbol  spread  throughout  the  country;  noblemen 
were  seen  in  the  grey  garb  of  mendicant  monks.  A  new 
coin,  the  '  Beggars'  Penny,'  with  the  image  of  the  King  on  one 
side,  and  two  hands  holding  a  beggar's  wallet  on  the  other, 
served  as  a  medal.  And  now  the  masses  began  to  move. 

While  the  Privy  Council  was  endeavouring  to  obtain  a 
"  Moderation "  of  the  Edicts,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the 
sharp-sighted  Viglius,  effected  that  the  heretics  should  be 


308    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

no  longer  burnt  but  hung,  and  that  the  Inquisition  should 
proceed  "prudently,  and  with  circumspection,"  a  move- 
ment broke  out  among  the  people  which  mocked  at  all  the 
Edicts.  The  open  country  was  suddenly  covered  with 
thousands  of  armed  noblemen,  citizens,  and  peasants,  who 
assembled  in  large  crowds  in  the  open  air  to  listen  to  some 
heretical  preacher,  Lutheran,  Calvinist,  or  even  an  Ana- 
baptist, and  to  hold  forbidden  services,  with  prayers  and 
hymns,  in  the  mother  tongue.  They  sallied  forth  with 
pistols,  arquebuses,  flails,  and  pitchforks ;  the  place  of 
meeting  was  marked  out  like  a  camp,  and  surrounded  by 
guards;  from  ten  to  twenty  thousand  assembled,  the  armed 
men  outside,  the  women  and  children  within.  After  the 
immense  choir  had  sung  a  psalm,  one  of  the  excom- 
municated preachers  appeared  between  two  pikes  (accord- 
ing to  the  "  Moderation,"  a  price  was  set  upon  the  head  of 
every  one  of  them),  and  expounded  the  new  doctrine  from 
the  Scriptures ;  the  assembly  listened  in  devout  silence, 
and  when  the  service  was  ended  separated  quietly,  but 
defiantly.  This  was  repeated  day  after  day  throughout  the 
country,  and  nobody  dared  to  attack  the  armed  field 
preachers. 

The  Regent  was  in  a  painful  situation ;  she  was  always 
having  it  proclaimed  that  the  Edicts  were  in  force,  but 
nobody  cared ;  and  when  she  demanded  of  the  authorities 
of  Antwerp  that  the  city  militia  should  be  called  out,  she 
was  told  it  was  impossible,  and  so  it  was.  It  was  all  in 
vain  unless  foreign  troops  came  to  enforce  obedience,  and 
these  she  had  neither  power  nor  funds  to  procure.  The 
King  hesitated  in  his  usual  fashion,  and  left  the  Regent  to 
the  torments  of  poweriessness  and  uncertainty. 

Meanwhile  the  universal  excitement  bore  fatal  fruit. 
Instead  of  the  dignified  preachings  and  peaceful  assemblies 
of  May,  in  June  and  July  there  were  wild  excesses  and 
furious  mobs. 

Orange  had  just  persuaded  the  Regent  to  permit  the 
field  preaching  in  the  open  country,  if  they  avoided  the 
towns,  when  the  first  great  outbreak  occurred  in  Antwerp. 

Two  days  after  a  great  procession,  on  the  i8th  of  August, 
1566,  at  which  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Antwerp  had  made  a 
pompous  display  to  the  annoyance  of  the  numerous  Pro- 
testants, the  beautiful  cathedral  was  invaded  by  a  furious 
mob,  who  destroyed  without  mercy  all  the  images,  pictures, 


THE   IMAGE   BREAKERS.  309 

and  objects  of  art  that  it  contained.  This  demolition  of 
images,  the  stripping  of  churches,  desecration  of  chapels, 
and  destruction  of  all  symbols  of  the  ancient  faith,  spread 
from  Antwerp  to  other  places,  Tournay,  Valenciennes,  &c. 
It  was  done  with  a  certain  moderation,  for  neither  personal 
violence  nor  theft  took  place  anywhere,  though  innumerable 
costly  articles  were  lying  about.  Still,  these  ianatical  scenes 
not  only  excited  the  ire  of  Catholics,  but  of  every  religious 
man  ;  in  Antwerp,  especially,  the  seafaring  mob  had  rushed 
upon  everything  that  had  been  held  sacred  for  centuries. 

In  her  distress  the  Regent  wished  to  flee  from  Brussels, 
but  Orange,  Egmont,  and  Horn  compelled  her  to  remain, 
and  induced  her  to  proclaim  the  Act  of  the  25th  of  August, 
by  which  an  armistice  was  decided  on  between  Spain  and 
the  Beggars.  In  this  the  Government  conceded  the  abolition 
of  the  Inquisition  and  the  toleration  of  the  new  doctrines, 
and  the  Beggars  declared  that  for  so  long  as  this  promise 
was  kept  their  league  was  dissolved. 

In  consideration  of  this,  the  first  men  in  the  country 
agreed  to  quell  the  disturbances  in  Flanders,  Antwerp, 
Tournay,  and  Malines,  and  to  restore  peace.  Orange 
effected  this  in  Antwerp  like  a  true  statesman,  who  knew 
how  to  keep  himself  above  party  spirit ;  but  in  Flanders, 
Egmont,  on  the  contrary,  went  to  work  like  a  brutal  soldier ; 
he  stormed  against  the  heretics  like  Philip's  Spanish  execu- 
tioners, and  the  scales  fell  from  the  eyes  of  the  bitterly 
disappointed  people. 

Meanwhile  a  decision  had  been  come  to  at  Madrid.  At 
the  time  of  the  crisis  in  the  early  summer,  Philip  had  not 
been  able  to  arrive  at  any.  The  Regent  was  waiting  in 
vain  for  an  answer  to  her  pressing  questions  about  the 
events  of  April,  while  the  armed  assemblies  were  spreading 
over  the  country ;  and  when  at  length  the  irresolute  King 
had  determined  to  proclaim  an  amnesty,  though  it  was 
really  rather  a  proscription,  and  to  promise  indulgence, 
while  he  was  assuring  the  Pope  by  protocol  before  notaries 
that  he  never  would  grant  any,  the  news  came  of  the  image 
riots  of  August,  and  a  report  from  the  Duchess  in  which  she 
humbly  begged  the  King's  pardon  for  having  allowed  a 
kind  of  religious  peace  to  be  extorted  from  her,  but  she  was 
entirely  innocent ;  they  had  forced  it  from  her  as  a  prisoner 
in  her  palace,  and  there  was  one  comfort,  that  the  King 
was  not  bound  by  a  promise  made  only  in  her  name. 


310    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Philip's  rage  was  boundless,  and  yet  it  was  a  sort  of 
satisfaction  to  him  that  he  had  been  right.  He  could  say, 
"  This  is  what  we  are  come  to  with  the  false  system  of  indul- 
gence ;  do  not  talk  any  more  to  me  of  forbearance  and 
conciliation."  He  was  resolved  upon  fearful  revenge,  even 
when  he  was  writing  that  he  should  know  how  to  restore 
order  in  his  provinces  by  means  of  grace  and  mercy.  His 
instructions  to  the  Regent  were  not  dubious,  while  she, 
in  her  letters  to  Orange,  Egmont,  and  Horn,  first  hinted, 
and  then  more  and  more  plainly  indicated  a  return  to  the 
old  policy.  Well-informed  as  Orange  was,  he  understood 
the  whole  situation  perfectly;  he  knew  that  while  the 
Regent  was  heaping  flattery  upon  him,  she  and  Philip 
were  compassing  his  destruction  ;  that  her  only  object  could 
be  to  keep  the  peace  until  the  Spanish  preparations  were 
complete,  and  meanwhile,  if  possible,  to  compromise  him 
with  the  people. 

He  wrote  to  Egmont,  and  laid  the  dangers  of  their 
situation  before  him,  and  communicated  his  resolve  either 
to  escape  Philip's  revenge  by  flight,  or  to  join  with  his 
friends  in  armed  resistance  to  the  expected  attack  of  the 
Spanish  army.  But  Egmont  in  his  unhappy  blindness  had 
resolved  to  side  with  the  Government  which  was  more  than 
ever  determined  on  his  destruction,  and  the  meeting  at 
Dendermonde,  October,  1566,  when  Orange  consulted  him, 
Louis  of  Nassau,  and  Hogstraaten,  as  to  a  plan  of  united 
action,  was  entirely  fruitless. 

Egmont  felt  secure  in  the  consciousness  of  his  innocence, 
and  the  recent  proofs  he  had  given  of  his  loyalty,  and  he 
was  resolved  to  give  new  proofs  of  it  in  proceeding  against 
the  heretics.  Admiral  Horn,  who  had  staked  large  property 
in  the  service  of  the  Emperor  and  King,  and  had  never 
received  the  least  return  in  answer  to  his  just  demands, 
gave  up  his  office,  and,  like  a  weary  philosopher,  retired 
into  solitude.  Left  entirely  alone,  Orange  thought  of 
emigrating ;  in  short,  the  upper  circle  of  the  previous 
party  of  opposition  no  longer  existed. 

But  it  was  not  so  with  the  mad  leaders  of  the  Beggars. 

While  the  zealous  inhabitants  of  Valenciennes,  incited  by 
two  of  the  most  dauntless  Calvinistic  preachers,  undertook 
to  defend  themselves  against  the  royal  troops  with  desperate 
bravery,  Count  Brederode  went  about  the  country  with  a 
clang  of  sabres,  exciting  disturbances  in  order  to  give  the 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  BEGGARS  AT  ANSTRUWEEL.  3  I  I 

heretics  at  Valenciennes  breathing-time  by  a  happy  diver- 
sion. An  attempt  upon  the  island  of  Walcheren,  part  of 
the  Stadtholdership  of  Orange,  failed,  but  at  the  village  of 
Anstruweel,  near  Antwerp,  large  numbers  of  armed  men 
assembled,  and  they  were  continually  reinforced  by  mal- 
contents from  all  the  surrounding  country.  Egmont  lost 
no  time  in  proceeding  against  them.  On  the  1 2th  of  May, 
1567,  an  army  of  his  old  troops  fell  upon  the  insurgents  and 
completely  subdued  them. 

The  fatal  struggles  of  the  volunteers  of  the  Beggars' 
League  could  be  seen  from  the  walls  of  Antwerp.  The 
thousands  of  Calvinists  within  the  walls  longed  to  go  to  the 
help  of  their  brethren.  As  there  was  no  longer  any  hope, 
at  the  peril  of  his  life  William  of  Orange  intercepted  them, 
and,  with  a  circumspection  and  wisdom  which  betrayed  the 
truly  great  man,  he  calmed  the  passions  which  threatened  to 
break  out  into  a  fearful  civil  war. 

All  that  Philip  wanted  to  enable  him  to  gain  the  day  was 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  revolt.  The  attack  upon  images 
and  the  Beggars'  volunteer  march  did  more  for  the  Govern- 
ment than  all  Granvella's  system ;  the  blind  passions  of  the 
iconoclasts,  and  the  appearance  of  the  nobles  in  the  late 
revolt,  drove  every  one  who  favoured  the  Catholics  and  loved 
peace  into  the  arms  of  the  Government. 

The  reaction  set  in  with  the  sanguinary  defeat  of  the 
rebels  at  Valenciennes,  who  never  again  even  made  an 
attempt  at  resistance. 

Orange  gave  up  the  liberties  of  his  country  for  lost.  It 
was  his  conviction  that  the  King  could  now  do  whatever  he 
pleased  ;  and  he  feared  the  worst,  for  he  had  long  had  no 
doubt  as  to  the  sentiments  of  the  wily  monarch.  Stating 
that  he  could  never  take  the  new  oath  of  fealty  which  was 
required,  because  it  would  oblige  him  to  become  the 
executioner  of  his  Protestant  countrymen,  he  renounced 
his  offices  and  dignities,  and  made  a  last  attempt  to  save  his 
friend  Egmont,  to  whom  he  was  heartily  attached.  At  a 
meeting  they  had  at  Willebrock,  Orange  represented  to  him 
that  judgment  had  already  been  passed  upon  them  at  the 
Escurial,  and  that  Philip's  revenge  was  implacable ;  he 
advised  him  therefore  to  save  himself  for  better  times,"  and 
like  him  to  leave  the  country. 

Egmont  was  not  to  be  convinced  ;  he  was  magnanimous 
and  loyal  to  infatuation ;  he  is  said  at  last  to  have  said 


312    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

almost  in  a  tone  of  mockery  that  his  friend  showed  more 
fear  than  became  a  knight,  and  to  have  exclaimed  at  part- 
ing, "  Adieu,  mon  prince  sans  cceur ! "  to  which  Orange 
answered,*  "  Adieu,  mon  comte  sans  tete  !  " 

The  friends  were  not  to  meet  again.  Before  his  depar- 
ture, Orange  wrote  parting  letters  to  Egmont  and  Horn, 
and  retired  to  Dillenburg,  the  ancient  property  of  the 
family. 

He  wished  to  be  spared  for  better  times  ;  he  saw  the 
storm  coming,  and  was  too  cool-headed  to  offer  himself  as 
the  first  sacrifice.  In  fact,  just  when  he  was  travelling  to- 
wards Germany,  Duke  Alba,  the  hangman  of  the  Nether- 
lands, was  on  his  way  to  his  destination. 

•  Against  this  tradition  see  the  remarks  in  MotJey. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  Duke  of  Alba  in  the  Netherlands. — His  Entry  into  the  Country. — 
Alba's  Characteristics. — Disappointment  of  the  Regent. — Guile- 
lessness  of  Egmont  and  Horn. — Their  imprisonment,  gth  of  Sep- 
tember.— The  Council  of  Disturbances. — Executions,  and  the  First 
War  of  Independence,  1567-8. — Members,  System,  and  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Council  of  Blood. — Louis  of  Nassau  in  Friesland, 
April— July,  1568. — Success  at  Heiliger  Lee  in  May.— Death  of 
Egmont  and  Horn,  5th  of  June. — Alba's  Victory,  July. — Advance 
of  Orange  and  Dissolution  of  his  Army,  October. — Highest  Point 
and  Decline  of  Alba's  System,  1569-73. — The  "  loth  Penny," 
March,  1569. — The  "Amnesty,"  I4th  July,  1570. — The  Sea- 
Beggars  at  Brill,  1st  April,  1572. — Louis  of  Nassau  at  Mons,  May. 
— The  Rising  in  Holland  and  Zealand. — Second  Campaign  of 
William  of  Orange  frustrated  by  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 
— Alba's  Retreat,  December,  1573. 

ALBA'S  APPEARANCE  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

'""PHE  Regent  had  latterly  been  writing  calming  letters  to 
•*-  Madrid,  and  had,  on  the  whole,  correctly  described 
the  situation.  Now  that  the  outrage  of  the  image  breakers, 
and  the  revolutionary  madness  had  been  put  down,  the  real 
leaders  captured,  fallen,  or  fled,  it  was  desirable  to  proceed 
energetically  indeed,  but  with  moderation,  in  order  that  the 
people  might  be  pacified,  and  the  sending  of  a  man  like  Alba 
must  at  all  events  be  prevented,  for  the  people  would  regard 
him  with  horror  as  their  executioner.  This  opinion  was 
not  without  advocates  at  Madrid;  the  King's  most  eminent 
councillors,  men  like  Ruy  Gomez  and  Perez,  were  of  opinion 
that  this  favourable  moment  should  be  seized,  by  a  wise 
combination  of  moderation  and  energy,  of  permanently 
attaching  these  valuable  provinces,  after  bitter  estrange- 
ment, to  Spain  ;  the  privy  council  was  quite  divided,  the  King 
would  hear  nothing  of  moderation,  held  his  sister's  govern- 


3H    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

ment  responsible  for  the  revolt,  and  adhered  to  his  intention 
of  sending  Alba  into  the  provinces  with  an  army. 

According  to  Margaret's  views,  and  those  of  several  of 
the  King's  advisers,  this  was  to  re-ignite  a  spark  which  was 
nearly  extinct — to  renew  a  fermentation  which  was  nearly  at 
an  end.  In  short,  it  was  the  fatal  turning-point  for  the  fate 
of  the  Spanish  rule. 

Up  to  the  spring  of  1567,  the  King's  best  support  had 
been  the  errors  of  his  enemies ;  now  that  he  resolved  to 
give  up  all  moderation,  and  to  send  Alba  to  conquer  a 
nation  that  was  almost  pacified  already,  it  must  bend  or 
break,  and  the  seeds  of  a  desperate  revolution  were  sown. 
But  from  the  first,  Philip  II.  had  no  other  idea  than  that 
of  cruel  revenge  and  conversion  at  the  point  of  the  sword, 
and  this  Orange  had  correctly  foreseen. 

In  accordance  with  the  King's  arbitrary  will,  Alba  came. 
The  Regent  declined  to  have  anything  to  do  with  him,  and 
retired  into  the  background  before  she  was  recalled,  as  she 
foresaw  that  she  must  sooner  or  later  do.  The  army 
which  suddenly  appeared  in  the  Netherlands  was  the 
finest  which  had  for  a  long  time  been  led  by  a  Spanish 
commander. 

Alba  was  considered  to  be  a  most  distinguished  general, 
and  in  the  judgment  of  friends  and  foes  he  was  the  greatest 
military  genius  that  Spain  had  produced  in  that  age.  This 
opinion  was  afterwards  modified,  for  it  proved  that  he  was 
more  capable  of  leading  a  small  force  than  of  conducting  a 
great  operation.  Great  importance  was  attached  to  the 
opinion  of  Charles  V.  Alba  had  grown  up  and  earned  his 
laurels  under  him,  the  chief  of  which  he  gained  during  the 
campaign  of  1546-7  in  Germany,  and  especially  at  the 
victory  at  Miihlberg.  But  that  was  the  acme  of  his  general- 
ship, and  it  was  afterwards  remembered  how  easy  these 
successes  were  made  for  him.  He  was  contending  with 
unskilful  generals,  troops  hastily  summoned,  and  an  un- 
prepared and  surprised  army.  At  the  siege  of  Metz  he  had 
failed  utterly,  which  seems  to  have  brought  him  into  dis- 
favour with  Charles,  and,  as  Charles  foretold,  he  was  not 
successful  in  Italy. 

These  failures  had  latterly  considerably  tarnished  his 
fame,  while  that  of  Egmont,  after  the  victories  of  St.  Quentin 
and  Gravelingen,  was  in  its  prime.  Still,  in  proportion  as 
Charles's  opinion  of  Alba  was  lessening,  he  increased  in 


THE  DUKE  OF  ALBA.  315 

favour  with   Philip.     The  reasons  of  this,  however,  were 
rather  political  than  military. 

His  character  was  congenial  to  Philip,  partly  from  simi- 
larity, partly  as  complement  to  his  own. 

Like  Philip,  he  was  harsh  and  severe  to  an  extreme  ;  he 
was  a  fanatical  Castilian,  who  looked  down  with  supreme 
contempt  upon  everything  not  Castilian.  Like  Philip,  he 
was  filled  with  a  passionate  zeal  for  conversion,  and  fully 
agreed  with  him  in  the  opinion  that  "  it  was  better  to  have 
a  kingdom  ruined  by  war,  if  it  remained  true  to  God  and 
the  King,  than  to  keep  it  unspoiled  by  war  for  the  benefit 
of  Satan  and  his  followers,  the  heretics."  Then  he  was 
blindly  subservient  to  the  will  of  his  monarch,  and  possessed 
the  shrewd  cunning,  the  talent  for  wily  intrigues,  and 
relentless  energy,  which  combined  to  form  Philip's  idea  of 
a  useful  servant.  These  were  the  qualities  which  attached 
him  to  the  King :  there  was  nothing  else  to  place  him  so  far 
above  others  who  had  claims  to  be  employed  in  this  mission 
to  the  Netherlands.  Margaret  and  Don  John  of  Austria 
were  both  more  eminent  than  he  was,  and  all  the  generals 
who  succeeded  him  in  the  Netherlands  have  cast  him, 
both  in  a  military  and  political  point  of  view,  into  the 
shade. 

In  a  political  aspect  he  was  the  most  insignificant  person 
that  could  be  found ;  narrow,  limited  in  the  whole  scope  of 
his  ideas,  he  never  comprehended  how  a  State  should  be 
governed ;  all  his  administration  was  like  pouring  water  into 
the  bowl  of  the  Danaides.  When  we  observe  the  subsequent 
conduct  of  Requesens  and  Alexander  of  Parma,  that  of 
Alba  appears  not  only  like  the  greatest  cruelty  and  tyranny, 
but  like  pitiful  incompetence  and  stupidity.  Just  at  the 
last  he  began  to  see  it,  when  he  demanded  his  dismissal ;  he 
was  anxious  to  retire  at  once  before  the  storm  broke  over 
his  head.  He  was  as  narrow-minded  and  empty-headed  as 
Philip  himself;  in  fact,  he  was  his  counterpart. 

This  judgment  is  mainly  derived  from  documents  only 
lately  made  public.  It  is  usual  to  describe  him  as  more 
able,  but  that  estimate  does  not  agree  with  these  witnesses, 
according  to  whom  neither  his  political  nor  military  mea- 
sures gave  evidence  of  any  talent.  He  was  born  to  ruin 
everything — army,  property,  and  country — in  rigid  obedience 
to  the  will  of  his  King,  in  the  interests  of  sincere  fanaticism, 
and  he  was  quite  incapable  of  projecting  or  effecting  any 


316         THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

salutary  measures.  This  was  the  man  who,  in  the  spring  of 
1567,  received  orders  to  set  out  with  an  army  which  was 
to  embark  at  Carthagena,  land  at  Genoa,  and  proceed 
through  Savoy,  Burgundy,  and  Lorraine,  to  the  Netherlands. 
They  embarked  on  the  loth  of  May,  and,  after  a  long  and 
weary  march,  reached  Luxemburg  in  August. 

The  habit  of  wily  double-facedness  had  become  a  second 
nature  to  Philip;  it  was  the  characteristic  also  of  his 
enemies  as  well  as  of  his  tools,  but  they  none  of  them 
equalled  him.  In  order  to  mask  his  displeasure  with 
Margaret,  he  deceived  her  with  a  story  which  seemed  to 
have  had  no  other  object ;  he  told  her  that  he  intended 
coming  himself,  in  order  to  quell  opposition,  and  by  his 
personal  influence,  to  effect  what  could  never  be  done  by 
the  most  faithful  servant  of  any  monarch. 

This  was  quite  in  accordance  with  Margaret's  wishes  ;  she 
thought,  indeed,  that  she  was  mistress  of  the  situation,  but 
it  was  perfectly  agreeable  to  her  that  the  King  should  come 
and  smooth  down  the  final  difficulties  if  it  would  only 
prevent  Alba's  coming.  She  was  still  putting  faith  in  the 
King's  visit  when  Alba  arrived  in  Luxemburg. 

Alba  came.  One  of  his  first  speeches  was — "  I,  who 
have  tamed  people  of  iron,  shall  soon  manage  these  people 
of  butter."  A  confidential  letter  given  him  by  the  King, 
with  the  contents  of  which  no  one  else  was  acquainted, 
contained  his  instructions.*  He  was,  above  all  things,  to 
secure  the  most  eminent  men  who  had  made  themselves 
suspicious  during  the  disturbances,  and  to  render  them  inca- 
pable of  mischief;  then  to  imprison  and  punish  the  guilty 
among  the  people,  and  extort  the  wealth  of  the  country  for 
the  treasury  and  the  support  of  the  troops.  Alba  used  to 
talk  of  a  "  stream  fathoms  deep  "  of  wealth  which  he  would 
conduct  from  the  Netherlands  to  Madrid.  Finally,  he  was 
to  carry  out  the  Edicts  against  heresy  with  unswerving 
severity,  to  finish  the  organization  of  the  new  bishoprics, 
and  to  chastise  the  rebellious  cities,  partly  by  means  of  the 
Inquisition,  and  partly  by  draining  the  wealth  into  the 
treasury.  This,  therefore,  amounted  to — Execution  of  high 
and  low,  annihilation  of  all  old  constitutions,  privileges,  and 
liberties,  especially  abolition  of  the  right  of  consent  to  the 
levy  of  taxes,  and  sanguinary  execution  of  the  measures 

*  Juste. 


EGMONT  AND  HORN.  317 

which  had  for  years  been  giving  rise  to  all  this  discon- 
tent. 

It  was  necessary  to  secure  the  most  powerful  leaders  of 
the  aristocracy  before  a  word  of  this  became  known.  When 
the  dreaded  man  appeared,  they  were  partly  alarmed,  partly 
embittered,  but  as  loyal  subjects  they  thought  he  must  not 
be  slighted,  and  came  with  numerous  retinues  to  meet  him, 
Egmont  at  their  head,  and  later  Horn  also.  It  was  just  for 
these  two  that  Alba  was  watching.  He  was  deeply  grieved 
to  find  that  Orange  was  gone,  for  if  he  were  not  taken  it 
would  be  thought  that  nothing  had  been  done.  A  most 
unworthy  game  now  began  to  be  played.  These  two  men 
might  have  made  mistakes,  but  they  had  done  nothing 
illegal.  Their  many  complaints,  and  Egmont's  journey  to 
Spain — when  he  had  been  so  graciously  received  at  Madrid 
— were  the  worst  accusations  against  them.  What  was  now 
done  showed  that  Egmont  was,  in  fact,  known  to  be 
innocent. 

In  order  to  disarm  all  suspicion  he  was  received  in  the 
most  friendly  manner,  and,  although  he  was  assailed  by 
warnings  of  every  sort,  it  perfectly  succeeded.  Horn  was 
less  eager  than  Egmont ;  he  was  still  sulking  in  retirement, 
and  Alba  took  all  manner  of  pains  to  entice  him  to  Brussels. 
One  flattering  letter  after  another  informed  Horn  that  his 
Majesty  entertained  the  highest  opinion  of  him  and  his 
services,  that  he  would  doubtless  be  amply  indemnified  for 
the  pecuniary  losses  he  had  sustained  in  the  service  of  the 
State,  and  that  the  Duke  was  desirous  of  entrusting  him 
with  the  most  flattering  commissions  on  the  part  of  the 
King.  Horn  excused  himself;  could  not  come  immediately ; 
must  at  least  first  go  and  see  his  brother-in-law,  who  was 
dangerously  ill.  He  went,  and  hastened  from  his  death-bed 
to  Brussels  in  order  not  to  be  too  late.  The  lies  by  which 
both  these  men  were  entrapped  show  plainly  that  it  was 
known  that  they  were  not  guilty. 

It  was  on  the  22nd  of  August  that  Alba  made  his  entry 
into  Brussels.  If  anybody  was  alarmed  at  the  visitor,  it  was 
the  Regent.  On  the  one  hand,  as  a  cautious  Italian,  she 
shuddered  at  the  idea  of  cruel  and  sanguinary  measures, 
and  on  the  other  she  was  proud  of  having  been  so  far  suc- 
cessful that  force  was  no  longer  necessary  ;  finally,  she  knew 
that  if  Alba  were  there  he  would  in  reality  be  over  her,  and 
her  pride  would  not  suffer  her  to  serve  under  him.  She  had 


318         THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

done  all  she  could  to  keep  him  away;  she  had  represented 
to  the  King  that  his  coming  was  enough  of  itself  to  excite 
rebellion  ;  he  was  so  hated  that  she  sent  an  embassy  to  him 
herself  to  entreat  him  not  to  come,  and  she  would  be  answer- 
able that  peace  should  not  be  disturbed.  But  Alba  appealed 
to  the  King's  orders.  She  had  latterly  displayed  the  tri- 
umphant security  of  one  who  had  gained  a  complete  victory ; 
she  was  conciliating  and  magnanimous ;  and  now  the  very 
man  was  sent  to  her  who  would  undo  all  her  work.  In 
the  belief  that  the  King  was  coming  himself  she  had  been 
making  preparations  to  give  him  a  festive  reception,  and  now 
it  was  not  the  King  but  his  executioner  who  was  coming. 

Unpleasant  scenes  immediately  took  place,  but  Alba  had 
been  ordered  to  detain  her ;  it  was  not  desired  that  she 
should  go  at  once  ;  of  course  everything  went  on  quite 
independently  of  her.  After  Alba's  arrival  she  no  longer 
considered  herself  Regent. 

Alba's  first  act  of  importance  was  the  imprisonment  of 
Egmont  and  Horn  on  the  gth  of  September. 

The  Duke  called  a  Council  of  War,  as  he  called  it,  to 
decide  upon  a  plan  of  fortifying  Antwerp.  He  ordered 
plarts  and  sketches  to  be  made,  and  invited  a  distinguished 
company.  Before  the  Council,  the  Grand  Prior,  Ferdinand 
of  Toledo,  Alba's  natural  son,  gave  a  great  banquet  at  which 
Egmont,  Horn,  and  many  of  the  nobility  were  present. 
Egmont  was  once  more  warned,  even  by  the  host  himself, 
who  had  conceived  a  chivalrous  affection  for  him,  to  flee 
on  the  swiftest  horse  before  the  banquet  was  ended.  This 
alarmed  even  Egmont,  and  he  consulted  his  countryman 
Noircarmes,  who  allayed  his  fears,  and  he  went  with  Horn 
and  the  rest  into  the  Duke's  house.  Both  busied  them- 
selves in  studying  the  plans,  while  their  dwellings  were 
searched,  their  papers  sealed,  their  secretaries  and  confi- 
dential servants  secured.  When  they  were  about  to  return 
home  in  the  evening  they  were  seized  and  imprisoned. 
This  came  unexpectedly  to  every  one,  and  most  of  all  to 
Egmont  and  Horn  themselves.  Up  to  this  time  they  had 
been  treated  with  marked  attention.  On  that  very  morning 
Alba  had  been  riding  one  of  the  horses  presented  to  him  by 
Egmont,  and  thus  lulled  into  false  security  they  beca  me  the 
victims  of  unparalleled  treachery. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  course  of  horrors  :  the 
great  tragedy  in  the  Netherlands  had  begun. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  BLOOD.  319 

THE  COUNCIL  OF  BLOOD,  THE  EXECUTIONS,  AND  THE 
FIRST  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

Immediately  after  the  imprisonment  of  the  two  noblemen, 
the  organization  of  terrorism  began,  the  Council  of  State 
was  set  aside,  and  a  Council  of  Disturbances,  or  "  Council 
of  Blood,"  as  the  inhabitants  called  it,  was  instituted  with 
full  powers.  Viglius  continued  to  be  the  servile  president 
of  the  now  insignificant  Council,  and  was  not  a  member  of 
the  Council  of  Blood,  but  conscientiously  performed  the 
office  of  executioner.  He  selected,  chiefly  from  among  his 
countrymen,  those  best  adapted  for  the  new  court.  Noir- 
carmes  and  Barlaymont  were  the  most  noteworthy,  but  the 
soul  of  the  crew  was  the  lowest  Spaniard  who  could  be 
found,  a  creature  named  Vargas,  who,  as  his  enemies  said, 
had  been  obliged  to  leave  Spain  because  he  had  violated  a 
girl  whose  guardian  he  was,  and  the  story  is  probable ;  for 
Alba  once  wrote  to  the  King  that  he  had  better  suspend 
the  criminal  process  against  Vargas  until  the  affairs  of  the 
Netherlands  were  settled.  This  shameless  subject,  who 
dared  not  show  his  face  in  Spain,  was  the  prominent  person 
in  a  tribunal  which  had  power  over  the  lives  and  properties 
of  the  flower  of  the  nation — a  man  who  well  knew  how  to 
play  the  part  of  a  judicial  murderer  with  incredible  cynicism. 
He  used  to  say,  in  his  notorious  Latin,  "  Hseretici  fraxerunt 
templa,  boni  nihil  faxerunt  contra,  ergo  debent  omnes  pati- 
bulare,"  and,  in  answer  to  protests,  "  Non  curamus  vestros 
privilegios." 

The  Council  of  Blood  began  its  sittings  on  the  20th  of 
September.  Alba  devoted  nearly  all  his  time  to  it.  For 
days  together  he  was  not  to  be  seen  either  with  the  troops 
or  in  the  Council  of  State.  He  sat  in  the  Council  of  Blood 
for  seven,  eight,  nine  hours  at  a  time.  He  never  was  more 
diligent  than  when  at  his  favourite  work.  Every  sentence 
passed  through  his  hands,  for  he  could  not  trust  the 
lawyers  always  to  pass  sentence  of  death.  "  The  lawyers," 
he  wrote  to  the  King,  "  were  only  accustomed  to  pass  sen- 
tence on  crime  being  proved,  but  that  would  never  do  here." 

All  the  ordinary  administration  of  justice  was  suspended  ; 
all  charters,  all  the  existing  laws,  all  provincial  and  civic 
privileges,  were  repealed  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen ;  the 
public  weal  was  subjected  altogether  to  a  revolutionary 
tribunal. 


320         THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Alba's  mission  was  to  exterminate  treason  ;  and  who  was 
the  arch-traitor  ? 

Whoever  had  taken  part  in  the  petitions  from  the  States 
and  cities  against  the  new  bishoprics  and  the  Inquisition, 
or  in  favour  of  the  relaxation  of  the  edicts,  was  accused  of 
conspiring  against  God  and  the  Church.  Every  nobleman 
who  had  given  in  such  a  petition,  or  had  approved  of  it, 
was  guilty  of  high  treason.  All  the  nobles  and  officials 
who,  under  pretext  of  the  pressure  of  circumstances,  had 
tolerated  the  field  preaching ;  all  nobles,  judges,  and  officials 
who  had  not  opposed  the  first  petition  ;  every  one  who  had 
attended  the  field  preaching,  and  had  not  opposed  the 
image  breaking  ;  finally,  all  who  had  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  King  had  no  right  to  deprive  the  provinces  of  their 
liberties,  or  that  the  present  tribunal  was  bound  by  any 
laws  or  privileges  whatever,  were  also  declared  guilty  of  high 
treason. 

The  last  idea  was  also  once  put  forth  during  the  French 
revolution. 

According  to  the  sixteen  Articles,  the  crime  of  high  treason 
had  a  thousand  forms.  The  processes  and  punishment  were 
all  the  more  simple  and  summary — death  and  forfeiture  of 
property.  This  explains  the  fact  that  in  the  course  of  three 
months  the  Council  of  Blood  sent  eighteen  hundred  people 
to  the  scaffold. 

There  were  prosecutions  of  people  for  singing  one  of  the 
"  Beggars'  "  songs,  or  for  having  years  before  attended  a 
Calvinistic  funeral,  or  for  saying  that  the  new  doctrines 
would  spread  to  Spain,  or  for  having  uttered  the  traitorous 
sentiment  that  we  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  man. 
Whoever  was  rich  was  sure  to  be  executed ;  for  Alba  had 
promised  his  needy  master  an  income  of  half  a  million 
ducats  from  the  confiscations.  But  neither  did  heretical 
cobblers  find  any  more  mercy ;  and  when  bread  was  dear, 
because  of  the  depression  of  agriculture  and  trade,  the 
bakers  were  told  that  if  they  did  not  make  cheaper  bread 
they  should  be  hung  up  before  their  shops ;  and  such 
threats  were  meant  in  bitter  earnest. 

It  soon  took  too  much  time  to  take  individuals  :  a  great 
catch  was  therefore  projected.  On  Shrove  Tuesday,  1568, 
a  great  net  was  thrown,  which  enclosed  the  trifling  number 
of  five  hundred  innocent  people.  It  often  happened  that 
people  were  executed  without  being  tried,  the  machine  did 


THE  TTRST  WAR.  321 

its  work  in  such  feverish  haste.  It  was  really  only  an 
empty  form  when,  on  the  i6th  February,  1568,  all  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  Netherlands  were  sentenced  to  death  as 
heretics,  with  a  very  few  exceptions  mentioned  by  name  ; 
for  in  fact  the  whole  nation  stood  upon  the  proscription  list. 

This  kind  of  government  went  on  for  years.  The  feelings 
it  gave  rise  to  need  not  be  described.  The  hatred  and 
despair  were  boundless.  But  there  is  a  long  step  from 
embitterment  and  exasperation  to  the  heroic  resolve  to 
stake  everything ;  these  are  two  different  things,  which 
must  not  be  confounded.  A  comrade  of  Bonaparte's  said 
that  there  was  no  knowing  what  a  nation  would  endure ; 
and  there  is  a  profound  truth  in  the  brutal  speech.  It  was 
illustrated  in  this  case.  But  when  the  long-pent-up  fire  did 
burst  forth,  it  was  certain  that  it  would  take  generations  to 
extinguish  it. 

When  this  old  Frisian  blood  was  once  up  for  the  sake  of 
liberty,  when  this  Low  German  phlegm  was  once  roused,  and 
the  resolution  taken,  "  better  a  drowned  country  than  a  lost 
country,"  a  struggle  might  be  expected  which  no  other 
nation  can  parallel.  But  the  country  was  not  yet  come  to 
this ;  and  William  of  Orange  was  mistaken  in  thinking  that 
the  time  had  come  for  revolting  against  Alba's  yoke. 

The  "  Wild  Beggars,"  who  roamed  the  country  in  troops 
as  highwaymen,  robbing  churches  and  convents,  and  muti- 
lating Catholic  priests,  were  a  fearful  symptom  of  the  state 
of  things  occasioned  by  the  universal  misery ;  but  they 
were  not  to  be  relied  upon  in  a  resolute  defensive  struggle. 
They  only  furnished  a  fresh  pretext  for  the  system  of  the 
Council  of  Blood. 

Prince  William  of  Orange  had  been  at  once  invited  to 
Brussels,  and  as  he  did  not  appear,  was  publicly  summoned 
to  surrender  himself.  In  several  proclamations  from  Dil- 
lenburg  he  had  energetically  defended  himself ;  but  in  all  he 
still  made  a  distinction  between  the  King  and  his  servants 
and  their  measures.  He  had  then  no  idea  that  he,  the 
little  lord  of  Dillenburg,  would  one  day  wrest  from  the 
haughty  Spaniard  his  fairest  possession.  He  did  not  yet 
think  that  there  was  sufficient  pretext  for  a  lawful  revolt. 
The  words  "  Pro  lege,  rege,  grege,"  were  still  upon  his 
banner. 

Egmont  and  Horn  were  still  in  prison,  and  the  game  of 
their  trial  was  not  played  out  when  William  made  the  first 

Y 


322    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

attempt  at  revolt.  His  brother,  Louis  of  Nassau,  entered 
Friesland  with  an  army  from  Emden  in  the  latter  half  of  April, 
1568,  and  turned  swamps  and  marshes  to  account  against 
the  Spaniards  with  the  same  skill  as  the  Germanic  tribes 
had  once  done  against  the  Romans,  and  near  the  convent 
of  Heileger  Lee,  near  Groningen,  they  suffered  an  entire 
defeat. 

Alba  now  set  out.  In  order  to  secure  the  capital  in  his 
rear,  he  had  the  nobles  beheaded,  who,  if  he  were  not  suc- 
cessful, would  place  themselves  at  the  head  of  a  general 
insurrection,  and  join  cause  with  the  victorious  party  in  the 
east.  The  executions  began  early  in  June.  First  eighteen 
or  twenty  nobles  fell  whose  trials  were  in  progress,  and  on 
the  5th,  Egmont  and  Horn.  Alba  then  advanced  against 
Louis's  army  in  Friesland,  defeated  it  twice,  till  it  was 
entirely  routed,  returned  to  fresh  executions  at  Brussels, 
and  late  in  the  autumn  marched  against  Orange's  army. 
He  was  advancing  at  the  head  of  thirty  thousand  German 
soldiers,  and  opened  the  campaign  on  the  5th  October  by 
successfully  crossing  the  Meuse.  Alba  had  ten  thousand 
men  less  than  Orange ;  a  lost  battle  in  Brabant  would  have 
been  a  misfortune  for  which  nothing  could  compensate. 
Alba  did  not  venture  on  the  perilous  attempt,  and  resolved 
to  end  the  war  without  a  battle,  which  was  the  safest  thing 
he  could  do.  The  resources  of  the  country  were  at  his  dis- 
posal ;  he  had  money  to  feed  and  pay  his  troops,  and  there- 
fore he  could  wait.  Orange  had  German  and  other  soldiers, 
who  would  be  likely  to  mutiny  if  their  pay  were  in  arrears. 
Besides,  his  troops  were  in  a  foreign  country,  were  in  want 
of  the  means  of  living,  and  there  was  no  one  to  support 
them.  The  sympathies  of  the  people  were  with  them  ; 
but  they  were  paralyzed  by  the  terror  that  preceded  Alba. 
William's  troops  longed  for  a  decisive  engagement;  but  Alba 
always  avoided  it.  His  own  troops  became  impatient  at  the 
fatiguing  marches  they  had  to  undergo  without  meeting  the 
enemy ;  but  with  his  iron  discipline  he  kept  them  together. 

Thus  William  was  manoeuvred  out  of  the  country.  His 
soldiers  mutinied.  In  a  single  engagement  which  one  of 
Alba's  generals  undertook  on  the  2oth  October,  without  the 
aid  of  the  main  army,  the  rebels  suffered  a  .sad  defeat ;  and 
when  a  troop  of  French  Huguenots  arrived,  the  German 
soldiers,  who  had  only  been  hired  against  Alba,  refused  to 
follow  their  leader  to  France.  So  Orange  was  compelled 


DECLINE  OF  ALBA'S   SYSTEM.  323 

to  retire ;  and  after  selling  his  plate  to  appease  the  muti- 
neers, he  had  to  disband  his  army  near  Strasburg. 

Thus  the  first  campaign  failed.  Alba's  rule  was  more 
firmly  established  than  ever,  and  the  only  positive  result  of 
the  attempt  was  the  death  of  the  two  nobles  whom  it  was 
intended  to  rescue. 

SUMMIT  AND  DECLINE  OF  ALBA'S  SYSTEM. 

The  very  worst  times  for  the  Netherlands  now  began. 
The  executions  by  fire,  water,  and  sword,  and  the  confisca- 
tion of  property,  were  recklessly  continued.  The  victims 
numbered  many  thousands.  The  number  of  emigrants 
increased  in  the  same  proportion,  and  the  product  of  con- 
fiscations reached  by  degrees  the  sum  of  thirty  million 
dollars. 

The  ancient  privileges  of  the  country  were  already 
annihilated;  the  population  was  fearfully  diminished ;  agri- 
cultural prosperity  was  threatened  with  ruin;  commerce  was 
at  an  end ;  the  harbours  were  empty ;  the  shops  and  ware- 
houses lying  waste;  numberless  industrious  hands  were  idle  ; 
the  great  businesses  were  at  a  standstill ;  the  wealthy  trading 
cities  impoverished ;  in  short,  everything  that  had  contributed 
to  commercial  and  industrial  prosperity  began  to  decay. 

Alba  had  no  eye  for  this  fearful  retrogression ;  he  was 
merely  his  master's  soldier,  inaccessible  to  any  idea  of 
political  economy.  The  treasury  at  Madrid  must  have  its 
millions ;  the  soldier  must  live  ;  it  was  nothing  to  him  that 
the  country  at  length  would  be  so  impoverished  that  there 
would  be  nothing  left  for  the  treasury  or  the  soldier. 

It  appeared  to  him  that  the  mine  of  wealth  in  the  rich 
provinces  had  not  yet  been  fully  worked,  and  he  projected 
a  general  bleeding,  which  would  cause  millions  to  flow  at 
one  blow,  and  for  ever  put  an  end  to  the  perpetual  pecu- 
niary embarrassment.  He  had  early  thought  of  introducing 
a  tax  which  existed  in  Spain,  and  which  has  conduced  to 
that  country's  ruin ;  it  commended  itself  by  its  simplicity, 
and  promised  a  rich  result. 

He  was  dissuaded  from  this  project  on  all  sides;  his 
absurd  financial  experiments  were  laughed  at  at  Madrid  ; 
even  Viglius  found  the  courage  to  oppose  him,  for  he  knew 
that  Philip  II.  was  beginning  to  doubt  his  great  general's 
abilities.  But  Alba  persisted  j  the  alcabala  yielded  him,  in 


324    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

his  own  city  of  Alba,  a  yearly  income  of  50,000  ducats ; 
what  might  not  be  expected  from  it  in  the  wealthy 
Netherlands  ? 

•According  to  the  investigations  of  a  commission  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose,  the  provinces  derived  an  income 
from  their  manufactures  of  forty-five  million  gulden  ;  *  they 
therefore  could  well  bear  a  heavy  tax. 

The  new  tax  was  proposed  to  the  States  at  Brussels  on 
the  2istof  March,  1569. 

It  provided  that  one  per  cent,  should  be  levied  on  all 
property,  movable  and  immovable,  as  an  extraordinary 
tax ;  this  was  called  the  hundredth  penny.  That  a  per- 
manent tax  of  a  twentieth  penny,  or  five  per  cent,  should 
be  levied  on  every  sale  of  landed  property,  and  ten  per  cent., 
or  the  tenth  penny,  on  all  sales  of  goods.  Thus  it  was  a  pro- 
gressive tax  of  three  different  rates,  and  all  three  exorbitant. 

This  decree  excited  universal  alarm.  The  folly  of  the 
scheme,  economically  speaking,  was  only  equalled  by  its 
barbarity.  To  subject  a  commercial  country,  which  was  in 
great  distress,  to  a  tax  of  ten  per  cent,  on  all  its  industrial 
products,  was  in  fact  a  fatal  blow  to  commerce.  It  excited 
a  storm  of  bitter  exasperation  in  all  the  provincial  assem- 
blies, such  as  had  not  been  produced  by  the  edicts  and 
executions.  The  province  of  Utrecht  gave  the  signal  for 
general  resistance ;  in  spite  of  threats  and  coercive  mea- 
sures, it  proved  impracticable  to  collect  the  tax,  and  Alba 
had  to  consent  to  the  compromise  that  it  should  be  post- 
poned for  two  years. 

In  the  summer  of  the  following  year,  a  so-called 
"  amnesty  "  was  proclaimed,  which  was  really  a  mockery  of 
the  name,  but  it  betrayed  a  slight  vacillation  in  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  beginning  of  dissatisfaction  with  Alba. 

The  King's  confidence  in  him  was  beginning  to  fail.  The 
Duke's  enemies,  Gomez,  Perez,  and  Granvella  at  their  head, 
were  striving  to  effect  his  recall.  Viglius,  who  knew  all 
about  it,  importuned  the  King  for  an  act  of  clemency,  and 
on  the  1 4th  of  July,  1570,  a  solemn  amnesty  was  pro- 
claimed at  Antwerp  ;  it  retained  all  the  old  punitive  Edicts, 
and  granted  no  other  favour  than  that  those  who  were  not 
accused  of  anything  should  not  be  punished,  in  case,  within  an 
appointed  time,  they  penitently  prayed  for  mercy,  and  obtained 
the  absolution  of  the  Church. 

*  Motley. 


THE   "AMNESTY."  325 

These  were  the  last  drops  in  the  already  overflowing  cup ; 
nothing  remained  for  the  Netherlands  but  to  grasp  the 
sword,  if  this  absolute  lawlessness  was  not  to  be  per- 
petuated. 

There  were  armed  revolts  during  the  whole  period'  of 
Alba's  government ;  it  was  chiefly  by  the  emigrants  that 
these  attempts  were  made ;  there  were  many  thousands  of 
them  on  the  frontier,  and,  as  is  generally  the  case  with  politi- 
cal refugees,  they  formed  their  judgments  on  events  as  they 
appeared  from  a  distance,  and  thought  it  far  easier  to  over- 
throw such  a  power  than  it  really  was. 

The  last  acts  had  excited  a  state  of  feeling  among  the 
people  which  disposed  them  to  a  desperate  resistance. 
They  were  not  easily  inflamed ;  neither  the  Catholic  Fle- 
mings and  Brabanters,  nor  the  Protestant  Frieslanders  of  the 
north,  were  of  sanguinary  temperament,  and  a  policy  which 
wished  to  discover  how  much  a  nation  will  bear  had  a  com- 
paratively favourable  field  for  the  experiment.  It  might  be 
long  before  a  commercial  people  would  resolve  upon  a 
desperate  resistance.  It  was  on  this  point  that  the  emigrants 
were  continually  deceived,  and  Orange  failed  in  his  pre- 
mature rising  in  1568  chiefly  because  not  a  single  city 
opened  its  gates  to  him. 

But  now,  under  the  impression  of  the  continued  ter- 
rorism, of  the  mockery  of  the  amnesty,  of  the  prospect  of  a 
fatal  system  of  taxation  which  threatened  ruin  to  every 
household,  of  the  obvious  symptoms  of  incompetence  in 
the  Government,  a  spirit  of  desperate  resolve  had  spread 
among  the  people,  and  they  preferred  to  hasten  the  end  by 
terrorism  to  seeing  terrorism  without  end. 

Alba  himself  had  begun  to  entertain  doubts,  if  not  of  his 
system,  of  his  power  to  carry  it  out.  His  want  of  money 
was  becoming  hopeless.  The  tenth  penny  was  postponed 
for  two  years ;  when  the  sums  were  wanted  he  brought 
forward  his  scheme  again,  but  he  was  met  in  the  Council 
by  open  defiance,  and  by  an  animosity  among  the  people 
that  made  an  impression  even  upon  him.  He  had  scarcely 
given  orders  definitively  to  levy  the  tenth  and  twentieth 
pennies  on  the  3ist  of  July,  1571,  than  all  shops  were 
closed,  and  the  bearing  of  the  people  in  all  the  provinces 
was  so  threatening,  that  the  Duke,  who  had  never  yielded 
before,  took  a  step  in  retreat,  and  exempted  the  necessaries 
of  life,  corn,  meat,  wine,  and  beer,  from  the  senseless  tax. 


326    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

But  this  alleviation  did  not  avail.  Industry  and  trade  were 
at  a  standstill.  A  contemporary  writer  says,  "The  brewers 
would  not  brew,  the  bakers  would  not  bake,  the  tavern- 
keepers  would  not  tap  their  beer."  Alba  was  enraged,  and 
would  have  gone  on  hanging  and  strangling,  when  his  atten- 
tion was  drawn  off  by  the  news  that  the  dreaded  Sea-Beggars 
had  taken  Brill  on  the  ist  of  April,  1572. 

All  that  was  done  by  William  and  his  chivalrous  brothers, 
Louis,  John,  and  Henry,  against  Alba  by  land,  was  but 
little  in  comparison  with  what  was  effected  by  the  Sea- 
Beggars  on  the  sea  and  the  sea-coast.  By  land,  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  had  to  be  spent  in  collecting  the 
headless  rabble  together ;  when  they  entered  any  place,  the 
mercenary  hordes  plundered  friends  and  foes  alike ;  and  if 
it  came  to  a  battle,  or  to  what  was  worse,  to  tedious  ma- 
noeuvres without  a  battle,  the  unpaid  hirelings  mutinied  and 
spoiled  everything.  It  was  different  with  the  naval  warfare 
which  was  carried  on  by  the  filibusters  of  Holland  and 
Seeland  against  the  "  viceroy  "  Alba.  They  were  no  hire- 
lings seeking  to  make  a  gain  of  war,  but  fugitives  from 
all  the  States,  who  had  been  driven  from  house  and  home 
by  Alba's  executions,  and  who  wanted  to  re-conquer  their 
country  from  the  sea;  they  were  real  Beggars,  men  who 
had  lost  all,  who  had  to  battle  with  distress  and  privation 
of  every  sort,  but  who  gladly  braved  danger  and  death  to 
satiate  their  revenge.  They  were  formerly  a  peaceful,  sea- 
faring people,  dwelling  on  the  coasts,  but  were  now  trans- 
formed into  the  fiercest  warriors.  William  had  furnished 
them  with  a  well-meant  organization,  but  distress  and  rage 
had  turned  them  into  cruel  corsairs.  They  watched  for 
Spanish  ships;  made  daring  attacks  upon  harbours  and 
coasting  towns.  When  victorious,  they  plundered,  robbed, 
and  murdered,  and  were  soon  as  much  dreaded  by  their 
countrymen  as  the  Spaniards.  Eminent  men,  who  had 
gained  renown  in  naval  affairs,  were  at  their  head ;  their 
admiral  was  the  wild  William  von  der  Mark. 

Under  his  leadership  twenty-four  of  their  ships  had  taken 
Brill,  by  a  successful  stratagem,  on  the  ist  of  April,  and 
thereby  secured  a  point  on  the  coast  from  which  all  the 
North,  Holland,  and  Zealand  might  be  wrested  from  the 
Spaniards. 

From  that  day  the  Spaniards  were  never  really  masters 
of  the  Netherlands ;  the  ablest  of  their  generals,  Alexander 


WILLIAM'S  SECOND  CAMPAIGN.  327 

of  Parma,  did  not  succeed  in  permanently  subjugating  the 
northern  provinces ;  even  the  southern  part  wavered,  and 
at  one  time  it  appeared  as  if  the  whole  of  Burgundy  would 
be  lost  to  the  Spanish  Crown.  While  all  the  more  im- 
portant cities  of  the  Island  of  Walcheren,  Holland  and 
Zealand,  Vlissingen  Haarlem,  Leyden,  Alkmaar,  had  de- 
clared for  the  Stadtholder,  William  of  Orange,  his  brother, 
Count  Louis,  had  in  May  succeeded  in  capturing  the 
important  town  of  Mons,  in  Hennegau.  William  had  at 
the  same  time  formed  another  army,  with  which  he  at  once 
advanced  to  the  heart  of  the  Netherlands. 

Before  all  hope  had  been  lost  of  a  diversion  against 
Alba  in  the  west,  by  the  defeat  of  Coligny  at  Moncontour 
on  the  3rd  October,  1569,  the  prince,  disguised  as  a  pea- 
sant, had  hastened  through  the  enemy's  ranks  to  Germany, 
to  seek  aid  for  the  liberation  of  the  Netherlands.  More 
helpless  than  ever — Granvella  mocked  at  the  vana  sine 
riribus  ira — destitute  of  means,  forsaken  by  his  allies,  sup- 
posed by  many  to  be  dead,  entreated  by  well-meaning 
friends  at  last  "  to  sit  still,"  burdened  with  a  great  debt 
for  arrears  of  pay,  with  unshaken  confidence  he  entered 
upon  the  unequal  contest.  He  had  lost  his  lands,  his 
retainers,  and  his  property,  but  not  his  faith  in  the  good 
cause.  He  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  princes  and 
people  of  the  German  empire,  put  a  heart-stirring  appeal 
to  his  countrymen  in  circulation,*  entreated  them  to  stake 
a  last  venture  for  the  holy  cause  of  freedom,  as  he  had  done 
himself.  And  it  was  not  quite  in  vain;  for  Alba's  terrorism, 
and  his  mad  persistence  in  the  tenth  penny,  had  done 
their  best  to  gain  entrance  for  William's  words. 

A  new  levy  of  troops  was  proceeding  successfully,  when 
Holland  and  Zealand  threw  off  Alba's  yoke,  and  gave  them- 
selves a  new  constitution  under  William's  instructions.  The 
States  of  Holland  met  at  Dortrecht  on  the  i5th  of  July, 
and,  fired  by  a  spirited  address  from  St.  Aldegonde,  they 
voted  to  the  prince,  "  as  the  King's  legal  Stadtholder  in 
Holland,  Zealand,  Friesland,  and  Utrecht,"  the  necessary 
sums  for  a  fresh  campaign,  to  be  raised  by  taxes,  loans, 
voluntary  contributions,  and  the  alienation  of  needless 
church  ornaments.  He  shortly  afterwards  appeared  with 
an  army  in  the  field,  on  the  23rd  July  took  the  fortress  of 

•  Motley. 


328    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Roermonde,  crossed  the  Meuse,  found  ready  entrance  into 
many  towns  and  villages,  and,  full  of  hope,  advanced  to 
Brussels ;  his  brother  was  in  possession  of  Mons  ;  he  had 
received  solemn  assurances  from  the  King  of  France  that, 
as  Coligny  had  also  written  to  him,  he  would  come  to  the 
aid  of  himself  and  his  brother  with  12,000  infantry  and 
3,000  cavalry.  "  The  Netherlanders  are  free ;  Alba  is  in 
my  hands ! "  he  triumphantly  exclaimed.  Then,  like  a 
flash  of  lightning  out  of  a  clear  sky,  came  the  news  of  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  all  was  over. 

Mons  had  to  be  sacrificed  ;  a  retreat  must  be  made,  and 
the  army  disbanded. 

But  Alba  had  no  longer  any  pleasure  in  the  Netherlands; 
the  triumph  over  the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew,  scenes  of 
fearful  bloodshed  at  Mons,  Malines,  Tergoes,  Naarden,  and 
Haarlem,  were  his  last  satisfaction.  He  was  weary  of  his 
fruitless  labours  as  executioner,  and  asked  for  his  dismissal. 
He  had  prided  himself  on  the  icy  coldness  with  which  he 
braved  men's  opinions ;  still,  what  he  now  experienced  was 
enough  to  dismay  even  him.  He  was  no  longer  greeted  in 
the  streets;  his  former  accomplices  bade  him  defiance;  he  was 
met  by  looks  of  detestation  wherever  he  went ;  and  when 
Philip's  ambassador  in  France  came  to  visit  the  Nether- 
lands, it  seemed  to  him  that  he  heard  but  one  cry  among 
the  people  :  "  Away  with  Alba  !  Away  with  Alba ! "  He 
himself  wrote  to  the  King  :  "  The  hatred  of  the  people 
towards  me,  on  account  of  the  chastisements  which,  though 
with  all  possible  forbearance,  I  have  been  compelled  to 
inflict  on  them,  makes  all  my  efforts  of  no  avail.  A 
successor  will  find  more  sympathy  than  I,  and  will  be  able 
to  do  more  good." 

Thus  he  demanded  and  received  his  dismissal;  not 
changed,  for  he  advised  his  successor  to  burn  all  the  towns 
except  those  in  which  he  could  put  a  Spanish  garrison,  but 
with  the  feeling  that  he  was  spent — that  his  part  was  played 
out.  On  the  iSth  December,  1573,  he  left  the  Netherlands 
for  ever. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ALBA'S  SUCCESSORS  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Character  of  the  War  which  now  began. — Requesens  y  Zuniga,  1573- 
76. — Defeat  and  Death  of  Louis  of  Nassau  on  the  Mooker  Haide, 
I4th  of  April,  1574. — Siege  and  Succour  of  Leyden,  26th  of  May 
to  3rd  of  October,  1574. — Separation  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Provinces. — The  Interregnum. — The  Great  Mutiny  of 
the  Soldiers. — The  Pacification  of  Ghent,  8th  of  November,  1576- 
78. — Alexander  Farnese,  Prince  of  Parma,  1587-89. — The  Union 
of  Utrecht,  January,  1579,  and  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the 
Seven  Northern  Provinces,  July,  1581. — Murder  of  William,  July 
10,  1584. 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  WAR  WHICH  NOW  BEGAN. 

THE  success  of  the  Sea -Beggars  at  the  Brill,  although 
unimportant  in  itself,  gave  the  impetus  not  only  to  one 
of  the  most  fearful  wars,  but  also  to  one  of  the  most  important 
revolutions  known  in  history ;  and  in  that  little  fleet  of 
daring  pirates  who  lived  on  the  plunder  of  Spanish  mer- 
chant vessels,  and  treated  their  enemies  with  barbarity  for 
barbarity,  the  germ  lay  concealed  of  that  great  maritime 
colonial  State  which,  up  to  the  time  of  the  Navigation  Act, 
was  the  most  powerful  in  the  world ;  and  though  it  now  only 
possesses  a  shadow  of  its  former  greatness,  it  still  belongs 
to  the  naval  powers.  With  this  development  of  a  free 
political  life  in  a  country  wrested  from  the  sea,  and  which 
was  soon  to  conquer  the  finest  part  of  the  New  World,  the 
decay  of  the  greatest  power  of  the  sixteenth  century  goes 
hand  in  hand.  The  revolt  of  the  Netherlands  was  the  open 
wound  of  Spain,  which  bled  and  festered  to  the  end  of  the 
century  ;  this  was  the  abyss  into  which  Spain  gradually  cast 
her  armies,  her  wealth,  and  her  fleets,  and,  in  the  end,  the 
despised  rebel  became  free,  rich,  and  powerful,  and  mighty 
Spain  was  ruined. 


330    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

This  fact  confirms  the  idea  that,  had  it  not  been  for  Alba, 
the  provinces  might  with  but  moderate  prudence  have  been 
preserved  to  the  Spanish  Crown.  It  was  reserved  for  Alba 
to  exasperate  a  peaceful  people  to  the  utmost,  to  call  forth 
heroes  from  a  nation  of  fishermen  and  shopkeepers,  and 
to  take  care  that  after  five  years  of  fearful  work  as 
executioner,  no  people  in  the  world  should  be  less  in  a 
condition  to  fight  for  freedom. 

Thus,  in  1572,  a  conflict  began  to  which  modern  history 
offers  no  parallel.  A  little  nation  averse  to  war  enteied  into 
an  unequal  contest  with  the  well-organized,  if  diminished, 
forces  of  the  greatest  military  power  of  the  age,  and  pursued 
it  with  unexampled  bitterness  and  determination.  From  the 
first,  the  struggle  was  entered  into  on  both  sides  as  a 
struggle  for  life  or  death  ;  each  party  looked  to  celebrating 
its  victory  with  the  death  of  its  opponent.  The  character 
of  the  war  cannot  be  better  described  than  in  the  words 
of  the  letter  which  William  of  Orange  circulated  through- 
out Christendom,  in  order  to  justify  the  revolt  of  his  people 
to  the  King  and  to  Europe.*  He  says  of  Alba,  "The 
tyrant  will  dye  every  river  and  stream  with  our  blood,  and 
hang  the  corpse  of  a  Dutchman  on  every  tree  in  the  country, 
before  he  ceases  to  slake  his  revenge  and  to  gloat  over  our 
miseries.  We  have,  therefore,  taken  up  arms  a.gainst  him  to 
snatch  our  wives  and  children  from  his  hands.  If  he  is  too 
strong  for  us,  we  are  ready  rather  to  die  an  honourable  death 
and  leave  a  glorious  name  behind  us,  than  to  bow  our 
necks  to  the  yoke,  and  to  give  up  our  beloved  country 
to  slavery.  It  is  for  this  that  our  cities  have  given  their 
word  to  stand  any  siege — to  do  their  very  utmost,  to  bear 
what  it  is  possible  for  men  to  bear— even,  if  need  be,  to  set 
fire  to  their  own  houses  and  to  perish  in  the  flames,  rather 
than  ever  submit  to  the  mandates  of  this  bloodthirsty 
hangman." 

The  contest  which  followed,  in  1572-3,  bore  completely 
the  stamp  of  the  whole  war.  There  was  boundless  fanaticism 
and  devotion  on  both  sides,  and  a  self-sacrificing  and  despe- 
rate resolve,  combined  with  a  fierce  hatred,  for  which  this 
phlegmatic  people  had  not  before  been  given  credit.  Cities 
and  provinces  were  sacrificed,  fruitful  plains  were  submerged, 
if  only  the  enemy  perished  with  them.  The  people  to  whom 

*  Motley. 


NATIONAL  ENTHUSIASM.  331 

William,  in  the  former  helpless  days,  had  so  often  exclaimed, 
"  Where  is  your  spirit  of  liberty  ?  Where  is  your  former 
bravery?"  could  now  say  with  pride,  "We  have  shown 
that  we  are  worthy  of  our  fathers,  and  that  the  old  Friesland 
blood  still  flows  in  our  veins."  Such  traditions  as  these 
keep  a  nation  upright  for  centuries.  This  nation  has  passed 
through  times  of  trouble  from  within  and  from  without,  but 
it  has  held  up  its  head  through  all  the  storms  and  vicissi- 
tudes of  time ;  and  this  is  the  result  of  the  great  traditions 
which  have  continually  kept  in  view  the  price  at  which 
independence  has  been  purchased. 

It  was  amidst  this  state  of  things  that  Alba  retired.  The 
Spaniards  and  the  Netherlanders  had  never  been  fond  of 
each  other,  and  now,  it  was  the  harvest  of  the  seed  which 
Alba  had  sown  that  the  people  were  enraged  with  every- 
thing Spanish.  The  thousands  whom  since  1 568  he  had  sent 
to  the  scaffold  could  not  rise  up  again,  but  another  nation 
had  arisen  over  their  graves.  Alba's  cruelty  and  insane 
administration  had  called  forth  a  spirit  which  ruined  him 
and  his  successors,  and  with  them  the  kingdom  of  Spain. 
Events  in  France,  and  the  destruction  of  the  Armada,  con- 
duced to  it,  but  it  was  the  war  with  the  Netherlands,  which 
lasted  till  the  beginning  of  the  sevententh  century,  which 
drained  the  life-blood  of  this  splendid  empire. 

REQUESENS  Y  ZUNIGA. — END  OF  1573  TILL  MARCH,  1576. 
—THE  BATTLE  OF  MOOKER  HAIDE.  —  THE  SIEGE  OF 
LEYDEN. 

Alba's  successor  was  a  distinguished  general  from  among 
the  higher  Spanish  nobility — at  least  equal  to  Alba  in  mili- 
tary prowess,  but,  what  was  more,  he  viewed  things  in  an 
entirely  different  light,  and,  so  far  as  it  was  possible  in  such 
a  war,  was  a  magnanimous  soldier,  who  could  act  with  the 
needful  energy  without  forgetting  clemency,  and  he  was 
likely  to  gain  far  more  victories  with  his  conciliatory 
measures  than  Alba  with  all  his  slaughter.  So  far  as  a 
Spaniard  could  do  so,  he  perceived  that  arms  and  money 
were  not  all  that  were  needed  in  this  war.  He  wrote  to  the 
King,  "  Before  my  arrival,  I  could  not  comprehend  how 
the  rebels  contrived  to  maintain  fleets  so  considerable, 
while  your  Majesty  could  not  maintain  one  ;  now  I  see 
that  men  who  are  fighting  for  their  lives,  their  families,  their 


332    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

property,  and  their  false  religion,  in  short  for  their  own 
cause,  are  content  if  they  only  receive  rations,  without  pay." 
Even,  however,  by  reason  of  these  views  and  qualities, 
Requesens  and  Alexander  of  Parma  were  the  most  dangerous 
enemies  of  the  revolt.  As  Requesens  discontinued  the  system 
of  blind  terror,  and  acted  with  a  wise  moderation  which 
still  did  not  look  like  weakness,  he  was  likely  enough  to 
detach  the  advocates  of  a  half  peace  and  delusive  recon- 
ciliation from  the  common  cause,  and  thus  to  make 
breaches  in  the  ranks  of  the  rebels.  It  was  this  that  gave 
rise  to  the  great  anxiety  of  William  of  Orange  as  to  the 
lulling  effect  of  an  amnesty,  of  which  there  were  now 
rumours. 

Meanwhile  the  war  with  all  its  horrors  continued,  by  land 
and  sea,  in  the  open  country  and  before  besieged  town, 
and  the  new  commander  began  to  apprehend  the  immense 
difficulties  of  his  task. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1574,  William  and  Louis  again 
appeared  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  German  hirelings, 
whose  numbers  were  diminished  by  desertion  at  every  step. 
General  Avila  advanced  to  meet  them,  also  mostly  with 
German  troops,*  and  on  the  i4th  of  April  a  murderous 
battle  took  place  on  the  Mooker  Haide,  on  the  Meuse,  in 
which  the  army  of  the  patriots  was  utterly  routed.  All 
was  already  lost  when  Count  Louis,  his  brother  Henry,  and 
the  Count  Palatine,  Christopher,  rushed  into  the  fray  and 
met  their  death  in  the  chivalrous  combat.  Encouraged  by 
the  fact  that  the  Spaniards  had  evacuated  Walcheren — that 
the  Beggars  were  masters  of  the  island,  the  coast,  and  the 
sea,  William  had  entertained  great  hopes  of  this  third 
expedition.  He  had  thought  to  overthrow  the  power  of  the 
new  Stadtholder  by  one  blow,  and  now  he  had  lost  his  army 
and  his  gallant  brothers  in  one  day. 

The  Spaniards  had  hitherto  always  been  victorious  in  the 
open  country,  and  now  they  had  gained  a  victory  more 
brilliant  than  any  since  the  revolt  began.  But  it  was 
different  with  the  fortified  places ;  the  incredible  obstinacy 
with  which  they  were  defended,  frustrated  all  the  skill  of 
the  generals  and  quenched  the  ardour  of  the  soldiers  ;  and 
yet  they  were  by  no  means  imposing  fortresses,  and  the 

*  The  army  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  Netherlands  numbered  62,000 
men,  who,  with  the  exception  of  8,000  Spaniards,  were  partly  Germans 
and  partly  Walloons. 


SIEGE  OF  LEYDEN.  333 

Spaniards,  ever  since  the  times  of  the  Romans,  had  been 
masters  of  the  art  of  taking  and  defending  cities. 

There  is  nothing  more  glorious  than  the  attitude  of  the 
city  of  Leyden,  under  the  severest  trial  to  which  a  city  was 
ever  subjected.  It  had  been  relieved  from  the  first  siege 
by  a  diversion  of  Louis  of  Nassau ;  but  after  his  death  it  was 
besieged  for  the  second  time  by  the  Spaniards  on  the  26th 
May,  1574. 

Orange,  whose  head-quarters  were  at  Delft  and  Rotter- 
dam, could  not,  with  his  troops,  encounter  the  Spaniards 
under  Valdez  in  the  open  country,  and  he  could  see  no 
other  hope  of  holding  the  faithful  city  than  by  inundating 
the  plain,  which  must  infallibly  drive  the  besiegers  away. 
Leyden  lay  in  the  midst  of  fruitful  gardens,  villages,  and 
country-houses  ;  the  harvest  was  standing  in  the  fields  ;  to 
open  the  dams  which  protected  all  this  wealth  from  the 
ocean  was  a  tremendous  sacrifice,  but  it  was  the  only  possi- 
ble means  of  relief.  Orange  proposed  it,  and  the  heroic 
inhabitants  at  once  consented.  The  Spaniards  attempted 
to  gain  them  by  an  amnesty.  On  the  6th  June,  Valdez 
proclaimed,  in  the  name  of  the  King  and  the  Pope,  a 
pardon  for  all  heretics  who  would  return  in  penitence  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  inhabitants  of  Leyden, 
together  with  those  of  all  the  northern  provinces,  rejected 
the  proposal  with  disdain.  The  citizens  declared,  "  We 
will  fight  for  God  and  our  liberties  to  the  last  man."  The 
inundations  began,  the  city  was  ill-provisioned,  but  with 
rigid  economy  and  strict  distribution  of  rations,  it  would 
be  possible  to  hold  out  till  relief  was  brought  from  the 
advancing  sea. 

The  city  had  held  out  three  months,  and  succour  had 
not  come.  From  a  sick  bed  the  prince  directed  the  work 
of  inundation,  and  the  movements  of  the  Beggars'  fleet, 
which  was  to  advance  to  the  city  with  the  sea,  but  contrary 
winds  and  a  host  of  unforeseen  obstacles  retarded  the 
advance  of  the  flood.  From  the  towers  of  Leyden,  the 
waves  were  seen  slowly  coming  in — too  slowly  for  the 
starving  citizens  ;  the  provisions  were  all  but  exhausted  ; 
dogs,  cats,  and  rats  were  delicacies ;  famine  and  pestilence 
raged  among  the  unhappy  people;  thousands  died,  but 
their  courage  did  not  fail ;  as  long  as  a  man  was  left  upon 
his  legs,  they  would  not  surrender.  At  length,  on  the 
morning  of  the  3rd  of  October,  after  more  than  four  months 


334    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

of  indescribable  suffering,  the  sea  reached  the  city  walls,  the 
Spaniards  fled  in  terror,  and  the  martial  forms  of  the  Sea- 
Beggars,  with  the  device,  "  Sooner  Turkish  than  Popish," 
made  their  entry  amidst  indescribable  rejoicings  into  the 
half-famished  city.  They  went  with  the  rescued  people  to 
the  Cathedral  to  offer  their  joint  prayers  and  praises  to 
God ;  but  the  singing  suddenly  came  to  an  end — the  vast 
congregation  had  burst  into  tears. 

At  the  suggestion  of  William  of  Orange,  the  University  of 
Leyden  was  founded  as  a  memorial  of  the  heroic  courage 
and  constancy  of  the  citizens. 

Requesens  could  not  prevent  that,  meanwhile,  the  outline 
of  a  new  Protestant  State,  with  Orange  for  Stadtholder,  was 
beginning  to  assume  shape.  It  was  connected  by  a  very 
slight  bond  with  the  Crown  of  Spain,  to  which,  however,  alle- 
giance was  still  outwardly  owned.  Military  onslaughts 
failed,  and  negotiations  proved  fruitless.  Orange  and  his 
States  insisted  on  liberty  of  conscience,  and  the  most  Spain 
would  grant  to  the  heretics  was  liberty  to  emigrate ;  the 
patriots  demanded  the  removal  of  the  Spanish  troops,  and 
Spain  replied,  "  Then  first  disband  yours ;"  the  rebels  de- 
manded that  the  States-General  should  be  convoked  and 
their  ancient  rights  acknowledged,  and  Spain  persisted  in 
absolutism.  Finally,  it  was  impossible  to  come  to  any 
understanding  with  an  opponent  of  such  well-known 
cunning  and  faithlessness ;  they  had  experienced  and  could 
but  expect  the  most  shameful  breaches  of  promise.  "  We 
have  not  forgotten  the  words  '  Agreed,'  and  '  Eternal,' " 
Orange  once  wrote  ;  and  at  another  time  he  said,  "  If  I  have 
your  word  for  it,  who  will  answer  for  it  that  the  King  will 
not  deny  it,  and  be  absolved  for  his  breach  of  faith  by  the 
Pope  ?  " 

No  reconciliation  was  therefore  to  be  hoped  for  in  the 
north,  but  in  the  south  the  Stadtholder  succeeded  in  in- 
spiring confidence  and  gaining  adherents,  which  Alba  never 
could  do.  The  population  there  was  more  inclined  to 
Spain,  politically  and  religiously,  and  would  have  been  still 
more  decidedly  so  had  it  not  been  for  Alba.  In  Holland, 
Zealand,  Friesland,  and  Utrecht,  Protestantism  reigned 
supreme,  and  since  the  revolt,  the  last  traces  of  Catholicism 
nad  disappeared.  But  in  the  south,  heresy  had  existed  only 
in  isolated  cases,  and,  as  it  were  as  an  episode,  it  had  taken 
no  root  among  the  people.  The  adherents  of  the  old  and 


DEATH   OF  REQUESENS.  335 

new  creeds  were  here,  as  everywhere,  intolerant  and  im- 
patient of  each  other,  and  in  nothing  is  the  greatness  of 
Orange  as  a  statesman  more  evident  than  in  the  decision 
with  which  from  the  first  he  opposed  this  intolerant,  spirit 
on  both  sides. 

The  Walloons,  too,  were  nationally  less  opposed  to  the 
Spaniards  than  the  Frisians,  in  whom  the  Germanic  element 
predominated,  and  the  southern  provinces  had  been  longer 
connected  with  Burgundy  and  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  while 
the  northern  States  had  been  mostly  acquired  by  Charles  V. 
To  them  the  connection  with  Spain  was  something  new. 
There  had  not  been  time  for  any  attachment  to  the  Govern- 
ment to  grow  up ;  the  Spaniard  was  hated  as  an  ambitious 
alien,  since  the  Reformation  as  a  bigoted  Catholic,  and 
since  the  accession  of  Philip  II.  as  a  revolutionist,  who 
wanted  to  overturn  their  ancient  constitutions  and  laws. 
It  was  not  the  Spanish  rule  that  was  ancient,  but  the  privi- 
leges of  the  country,  and  the  only  connection  they  would 
acknowledge  was  that  with  the  German  empire. 

This  explains  the  fact  that  Requesens,  who  was  not  only 
a  soldier,  but  enough  of  a  statesman  to  take  account  of 
these  factors,  contrived  to  gain  a  certain  number  of  adher- 
ents in  the  south.  Since  he  had  abolished  the  "  Council 
of  Blood,"  and  the  Government  had  become  more  tolerable, 
a  marked  change  had  taken  place  in  the  sentiments  of  this 
deeply  depressed  people. 

But  this  rendered  it  only  still  more  difficult  to  see  what 
would  be  the  result  of  the  struggle  for  the  future  of  the 
Netherlands. 

The  position  of  a  skilful  general  in  the  prime  of  life,  with 
a  most  efficient  force,  and  the  resources  of  the  friendly 
provinces  at  his  disposal,  supported  by  the  as  yet  unex- 
hausted means  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  was  certainly  by 
no  means  a  hopeless  one,  confronted  by  two  rebel  provinces 
which  were  masters  of  the  sea  and  the  coast,  the  fortresses 
and  brave  inhabitants  of  their  cities,  but  which  had  no 
army  at  their  command  and  not  a  single  foreign  ally.  But 
at  this  juncture  Requesens  died  quite  suddenly  on  the  5th 
March,  1576,  and  this  unexpected  circumstance  gave  events 
a  new  turn. 

The  Spanish  military  tactics  and  policy  were  deprived 
of  the  man  who  had  given  a  consistent  aim  to  their 
undertaking;  it  was  months  before  a  successor  was 


336         THE  REVOLT   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

found,  and  during  this  interregnum  everything  was  out  of 
joint. 

THE  INTERREGNUM. — MUTINY  OF  THE  TROOPS. — THE 
PACIFICATION  OF  GHENT. 

Requesens'  greatest  difficulty — and  even  in  the  provinces 
that  were  true  to  him  he  had  never  entirely  overcome  it — 
was  the  burden  of  the  Spanish,  Walloon,  and  German 
troops ;  if  not  kept  in  good  humour,  they  were  a  real 
scourge  to  the  peaceable  inhabitants.  In  perpetual  pecu- 
niary embarrassment,  Requesens  had  great  difficulty  in 
keeping  the  troops  together.  Long  absence  from  home  had 
made  them  disorderly ;  their  task  as  hangmen  in  Alba's 
service  had  made  them  brutal,  and  accustomed  to  commit 
every  kind  of  barbarity  unpunished.  The  army  had  latterly 
shown  most  portentous  symptoms.  Since  the  sudden  death  of 
the  Commander-in-Chief,  the  executive  power  was  in  the 
greatest  confusion  ;  means  were  wanting  either  to  feed  the 
troops  or  to  pay  them  off.  It  would  have  been  difficult  for  a 
man  of  the  greatest  ability  to  manage  them  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, but  there  was  no  one  to  do  it,  and  a  fearful 
commotion  took  place  among  them.  "  Ready  money  or  a 
city  ! "  the  soldiers  cried  out  to  the  officers  who  tried  to 
appease  them.  Neither  could  be  granted,  and  so  the  dis- 
banded hosts  rushed  upon  cities  in  Flanders  and  Brabant, 
took  them  by  storm,  cut  down  the  armed  men,  ill-treated  the 
defenceless,  and  robbed  and  plundered  wherever  they  could. 

The  mischief  began  at  Aalst,  in  Flanders.  All  the  gar- 
risons of  the  numerous  citadels  which  Charles  and  Philip 
had  built,  joined  in  it ;  disgraceful  scenes  of  rapine,  murder, 
and  plunder  occurred  everywhere,  and  worst  of  all  at 
Antwerp,  which,  with  its  immense  wealth,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  German,  Walloon,  and  Spanish  mutineers,  and  was  plun- 
dered by  them  during  three  terrible  November  days,  amidst 
scenes  of  brutality  enough  to  make  one's  hair  stand  on  end. 

This  mutiny  was  a  stupendous  event ;  it  showed  the 
southern  provinces  what  the  Spanish  dominion  was,  and 
what  was  the  value  of  the  peace  which  had  been  lulling 
them  into  false  security.  In  the  cities  in  which,  following 
the  example  of  Brussels,  the  citizens,  with  energetic  presence 
of  mind,  had  taken  up  arms  to  defend  the  domestic  hearth, 
those  same  Spaniards  were  outlawed  who  had  been  sum- 


THE  PACIFICATION  OF  GHENT.  337 

moned  to  guard  the  unity  of  the  faith  against  the  rebels. 
The  north  enjoyed  some  precious  months  of  peace  and 
time  for  reflection.  The  south,  which  had  considered 
itself  happy  in  being  spared  the  devastation  which  the 
north  had  suffered,  now  experienced  all  the  horrors  of  a 
wild  banditti  warfare,  and  envied  the  adherents  of  the  new 
States  in  Holland  and  Zealand,  with  whom  it  had  again 
at  least  one  hatred  in  common. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  nobles  of  Flanders  and 
Brabant  met  together  and  sought  help,  not  at  Madrid,  but 
in  the  northern  provinces ;  they  begged  William  to  help 
them  to  save  the  country  from  the  outrages  of  their  own 
protectors.  On  the  8th  November  the  pacification  of  Ghent 
was  concluded,  which  first  united  the  Netherlands  in  a 
common  bond  against  the  Spanish  dominion. 

The  treaty  was  signed  on  the  one  side  by  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  in  the  name  of  the  States  of  Holland  and  Zealand  ; 
on  the  other  by  the  representatives  of  Brabant,  Flanders, 
Artois,  Hennegau,  Valenciennes,  Lille,  Douay,  Orchies, 
Namur,  Tournay,  Utrecht,  and  Mechlin.  It  was  agreed — 

1.  That  there  be  an  amnesty  for  the  past,  and  a  close 
alliance  for  the  future. 

2.  That  the  Spaniards  should  be  sent  out  of  the  Nether- 
lands. 

3.  That  the  States-General,  as  they  existed  at  the  time  of 
the  Emperor's  abdication,  be  convoked,  to   regulate   the 
religious  affairs  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  and  the  surrender 
of  the  fortified  places. 

4.  That  complete  freedom  of  trade  and  commerce  shall 
exist  between  the  two  parties. 

5.  That  the  placards  and  edicts  against  the  heretics  be 
suspended  until  the  decision  of  the  Stales-General. 

6.  That  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  shall  not  be  mo- 
lested where  it  exists. 

7.  That   the  Prince  of  Orange   remain  Stadtholder   of 
Holland  and  Zealand  until  the  States-General  decide  other- 
wise, after  the  expulsion  of  the  Spaniards. 

From  this  treaty,  so  soon  as  they  were  in  earnest  in  ex- 
pelling the  Spaniards,  there  was  but  a  step  to  complete  in- 
dependence. The  whole  of  Burgundy,  the  growth  of  which 
Charles  V.  had  regarded  with  so  much  affection,  seemed  to 
be  on  the  point  of  being  lost  to  Spain.  An  unheard-of 
event  was  taking  place :  two  territories,  whose  faith,  man- 

z 


338    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

ners,  nationality,  and  political  antecedents  were  entirely 
different,  had  joined  together  in  a  common  programme, 
and  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  ruling,  not  the  north  only,  but 
the  south  also. 

The  danger  appeared  greater  to  Spain  than  it  really  was 
The  differences  between  the  two  districts  were  not  to  dis- 
appear all  at  once.  During  the  calamity  of  the  mutiny  in 
the  summer  and  autumn  of  1576,  they  might  be  forgotten, 
and  the  help  of  William  of  Orange  was  readily  accepted  in 
distress ;  but  the  Catholics  of  the  south  still  regarded  the 
Calvinists  and  Lutherans  of  the  north  as  heretics  and  image- 
breakers,  and  the  numerous  and  proud  aristocrats  of 
Flanders  and  Brabant  were  not  pleased  to  see  the  little 
Prince  of  Orange,  who  had  openly  seceded  from  the 
ancient  faith,  in  the  place  they  would  fain  have  occupied 
themselves.  In  short,  the  Pacification  of  Ghent  was  not 
a  lasting  achievement,  nor  yet  a  complete  solution  of  the 
questions  at  issue.  Just  about  the  time  when  the  treaty 
was  concluded,  the  new  Stadtholder  appeared  in  the  Nether- 
lands. 

DON  JOHN  OF  AUSTRIA,  1576-8. 

The  victor  of  Lepanto,  Don  John  of  Austria,  Philip's 
half-brother,  a  brilliant  warrior,  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame 
and  flower  of  his  strength,  was  possessed  of  far  more  ability 
than  the  little-minded  monarch ;  he  alone  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  imperial  family  inherited  the  vigour  of  mind  and 
chivalrous  energy  which  had  made  Charles  V.  in  his  best 
days  so  popular  in  the  Netherlands,  and  which  the  melan- 
choly Philip  was  so  entirely  without. 

With  his  heroic  form,  his  manly  beauty  and  attractive 
grace,  and  a  heart  full  of  bold  and  enthusiastic  dreams,  he 
was  well  adapted  to  eclipse  his  jealous  master,  though  less 
so  than  if  he  had  brought  with  him  any  other  means  of 
solving  the  complicated  problem  before  him.  He  did  not 
approve  of  Alba's  system.  He  intended  to  try  his  fortune 
with  clemency  and  conciliation,  but  it  was  evident  that  he 
was  not  magnanimous  by  nature,  but  from  calculation  ;  there 
was  a  trace  of  duplicity  in  his  character,  of  a  tendency  to 
play  a  double  part,  which  was  portentous.  He  was  soon 
condemned  in  the  provinces  as  a  doubtful,  untrustworthy 
character,  and  in  Spain  his  half  measures  suggested  the  idea 


DON  JOHN  OF  AUSTRIA.  339 

that  he  might  be  thinking  of  establishing  an  independent 
kingdom  for  himself.  It  is  well  known  that  his  sudden  and 
tragic  end  was  attributed  to  suspicions  against  him  at  the 
Escurial. 

He  was  somewhat  to  blame  himself.  He  took  a  pleasure 
in  playing  with  fire  ;  for  a  time  it  answered  tolerably  well, 
and  then  both  parties  made  it  impossible.  His  conduct  in 
the  Netherlands  was  circumspect,  but  by  no  means  calcu- 
lated to  awaken  confidence. 

Before  the  States  acknowledged  him  as  Stadtholder,  they 
demanded  the  expulsion  of  the  Spaniards  and  the  accept- 
ance of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  which,  according  to  their 
representations,  interfered  neither  with  the  authority  of  the 
King  nor  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

Don  John  gave  an  eyasive  answer,  and  so  the  States 
made  an  imposing  demonstration ;  they  confirmed  the  Paci- 
fication of  Ghent  by  the  Union  of  Brussels,  January,  1517, 
and  this  document  was  accepted  with  acclamation  by  the 
people  of  all  the  provinces,  Luxemburg  excepted,  by  the 
nobles,  clergy,  and  citizens  ;  it  received  thousands  of  signa- 
tures ;  there  could  no  longer  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  senti- 
ments of  the  people. 

This  produced  the  desired  effect.  In  February  the 
Stadtholder  published  the  celebrated  edictum  perpetuuin. 
which  granted  all  the  demands  of  the  States,  the  expulsion 
of  the  troops,  the  toleration  of  the  heretics,  the  convocation 
of  the  States-General. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  the  southern  provinces ;  but 
in  the  north  they  were  suspicious,  and  Orange  refused  to 
join  in  it.  He  was  convinced  that  it  was  a  trap  for  causing 
division  and  snaring  the  unwary.  Tedious  negotiations 
supervened,  during  which  the  nobles  of  Flanders  and 
Brabant  played  a  most  equivocal  part,  summoned  the 
Archduke  Matthias  of  Austria  into  the  country  as  a  coun- 
terpoise to  Orange,  now  adhered  to  and  now  forsook  him, 
and  the  negotiations  resulted  in  a  fresh  war.  The  battle  ot 
Gemblours  (January,  1578)  showed  the  superiority  ot  the 
Spaniards  in  the  open  country ;  but  Don  John  despaired  of 
further  success.  Broken  down  in  body  and  mind,  distressed 
at  the  evident  displeasure  of  the  King,  in  want  of  funds, 
and  forsaken  by  his  troops  and  allies,  on  ist  October,  1578, 
he  died. 

Suspicions  were  afloat   that   he  did  not   die  a  natural 


340    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

death.  It  was  said  that  he  had  himself  devised  suspicious 
schemes  against  the  King,  in  which  Philip's  favourite  and 
adviser,  Antonio  Perez,  was  implicated.  Perez  was  given 
over  to  the  Inquisition,  escaped  to  Aragon,  appealed  in 
vain  to  the  privileges  of  the  country,  and  fled  to  France  and 
England,  where  in  his  memoirs  he  gave  vent  to  his  fierce 
hatred  of  the  King.  His  life  has  recently  been  compiled 
from  these  materials,  and  various  things  brought  to  light 
which  must  be  laid  to  the  King's  charge. 

ALEXANDER  OF  PARMA,  1578-9. 

Don  John's  successor,  Alexander  Farnese,  Prince  of 
Parma,  the  son  of  the  former  Stadtholder,  Margaret  of 
Parma,  was  superior  as  a  general  to  all  his  predecessors, 
and  was  at  least  equal  to  Requesens  in  political  skill,  cool 
determination,  and  self-possessed  tact  in  the  management  of 
men.  He  was  the  last  great  general  whom  Spain  possessed 
in  the  sixteenth  century ;  indeed,  he  was  the  last  great  man 
whom  Spain  produced  for  a  long  period.  He  might  fairly 
be  called  a  Spaniard,  although  Italian  blood  flowed  in  his 
veins ;  for  he  had  grown  up  in  Spain  as  the  playfellow  of 
Don  Carlos  and  Don  John,  who  was  about  the  same  age  ; 
his  education  and  training  were  entirely  Spanish  ;  and  the 
only  qualities  he  had  inherited  from  Italy  were  the  mental 
vigour,  the  combination  of  the  supple  activity  and  resolute 
will  by  which  the  house  of  Farnese  were  distinguished. 

When  Alexander  Farnese  stepped  into  the  place  which 
had  been  filled  by  the  friend  of  his  childhood,  the  position 
of  affairs  was  not  very  brilliant  in  Spain,  and  in  the  pro- 
vinces still  less  so.  The  Treaty  of  Ghent  was  everywhere 
disregarded,  parties  were  broken  up,  the  Catholic  south  was 
again  at  open  variance  with  the  Protestant  north,  and 
misery  and  distress  everywhere  prevailed. 

A  phase  of  the  contest  began  with  him  which  made  all 
that  had  previously  taken  place  appear  fruitless,  and  all  the 
successes  of  the  rebels  doubtful.  A  great  general  with  a 
new  army,  a  man  sure  to  awaken  all  the  sympathies  of  the 
south,  who  kept  the  troops  in  order,  and  who,  up  to  the 
point  of  the  unity  of  the  faith,  was  ready  to  make  certain 
reasonable  concessions,  without  Alba's  severity  or  Don 
John's  duplicity,  was  likely  to  increase  the  difficulties 
of  the  northern  provinces,  which  alone  were  animated  by 
the  genuine  love  of  liberty  in  this  war. 


THE  UNION  OF  UTRECHT.  341 

It  had  become  clear  that  no  reliance  was  to  be  placed 
upon  their  southern  allies,  for  the  nobles  in  Flanders  and 
Brabant  now  followed  one  leader  and  now  another,  and  a  re- 
solution had  therefore  been  taken  that,  if  it  were  not  possible 
to  unite  the  whole  of  the  Netherlands,  the  best  and  most 
trustworthy  parts  should  be  joined  in  a  close  alliance. 

Accordingly,  in  1579,  Holland  and  Zealand,  Guelders, 
Zutphen,  Utrecht,  Overyssel,  and  Groningen  laid  together 
in  the  so-called  Union  of  Utrecht,  the  foundations  of  the  first 
federal  constitution  which  existed  in  this  part  of  the  world, 
and  which,  in  spite  of  its  imperfections,  lasted  a  surprisingly 
long  time. 

The  seven  provinces  bound  themselves  by  a  perpetual 
alliance  to  mutual  protection  against  the  enemy,  and 
therefore  to  contribute  to  a  common  military  treasury,  to 
levy  and  support  an  army  by  general  taxation,  to  establish 
a  common  Diet,  and  to  renounce  the  right  of  making  sepa- 
rate treaties,  as  if  they  were  really  but  one  State ;  but  the 
internal  affairs  of  every  province,  city,  and  corporation,  their 
ancient  rights  and  privileges,  customs  and  laws,  and  espe- 
cially religious  matters,  were  to  be  left  under  the  control  of 
each  separate  State. 

These  were  the  simple  provisions  rather  of  an  offensive 
and  defensive  alliance  than  of  a  constitution;  and  yet  it 
was  out  of  this  union  that  the  constitution  of  the  subsequent 
Dutch  republic  grew. 

With  a  true  instinct,  the  distinction  is  made  between 
special  and  internal  and  external  or  general  interests,  which 
has  been  from  this  time  the  great  characteristic  of  every 
federal  constitution. 

The  Union  of  Utrecht  was  the  final  step,  which  could  but 
be  followed  by  finally  throwing  off  the  Spanish  yoke.  But 
this  was  not  yet  done.  On  the  contrary,  in  accordance 
with  the  fiction  which  had  been  adopted,  this  union  was 
entered  into  "  in  the  name  of  the  King."  But  two  years 
later  the  bridge  was  broken  down  behind  them. 

In  June,  1580,  Philip  had  proclaimed  William  of  Orange 
to  be  an  outlaw  and  rebel,  and  had  given  him  up  to  any 
assassin  as  "  an  enemy  of  the  human  race ;"  had  forbidden 
all  his  subjects  to  give  him  food,  drink,  or  fire ;  and  pro- 
mised twenty-five  thousand  crowns,  immunity  from  punish- 
ment for  any  crime,  and  a  patent  of  nobility,  to  any  one  who 
would  deliver  him  up  alive  or  dead.  In  July,  1581,  fol- 


342    THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

lowed  the  revolt  of  the  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zealand 
from  Spain,  and  after  long  resistance  Orange  accepted  the 
election  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  country. 

The  brave  Frisians  were  the  first  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  right  of  nations  to  choose  their  own  form  of  govern- 
ment, proclaimed  by  the  Jesuits  at  the  Council  of  Trent. 
In  the  records  of  it  it  says,  among  other  things,  "  Every 
one  knows  that  a  ruler  is  ordained  by  God  to  protect  his 
subjects,  as  a  shepherd  protects  his  flock.  If,  therefore,  the 
ruler  do  not  do  his  duty,  if  he  oppress  his  subjects,  destroy 
their  ancient  liberties,  and  treat  them  like  slaves,  he  is  no 
longer  to  be  considered  as  a  ruler,  but  as  a  tyrant.  As  such 
the  country  may  justly  and  reasonably  depose  him,  and 
elect  another  in  his  place." 

The  Treaty  of  Utrecht  was  the  result  of  urgent  distress ; 
it  bore  the  stamp  of  an  exceptional  period ;  its  originators 
had  no  idea  of  providing  for  two  hundred  years,  but  for 
relief  from  present  tyranny ;  and  this  explains  the  imperfec- 
tions of  the  scheme.  It  also  explains  the  monarchical  form 
which  this  confederation  of  republics  assumed,  and  which 
was  theoretically  in  contradiction  to  the  constitution.  It 
was  necessary  to  have  a  man  at  the  head  of  the  Government 
who  did  not  merely  share  the  power  of  every  burgomaster, 
but  who  had  the  army  and  fleet  and  everything  else  at  his 
command.  No  one  had  any  doubt  about  it,  and  no  one 
knew  anything  of  theories  about  distribution  of  power. 
They  were  involved  in  a  gigantic  struggle  with  the  greatest 
monarchy  in  the  world,  and  with  the  south  probably  against 
them.  In  this  situation,  if  every  little  State  acted  for  itself, 
the  ruin  of  all  was  inevitable. 

But  the  relations  of  the  sovereign  to  his  federal  republic 
were  curious  and  contradictory  in  the  extreme.  So  long  as 
William  of  Orange  lived  there  was  no  irritation,  because 
with  his  composure,  cool  sagacity,  and  moderation  he  dis- 
armed all  opposition ;  and  this  I  consider  to  be  his  great- 
est glory.  He  is  not,  according  to  my  view,  the  demi-god 
that  the  Dutch  historians  make  of  him.  I  consider  him  to 
be  thoroughly  human — possessed  of  great  talents,  but  also 
of  great  ambition  and  love  of  power.  His  greatest  merit  is 
that  he  knew  how  to  control  these  passions,  and  during  the 
whole  of  his  administration  to  appear  only  as  the  defender 
of  his  country,  without  aiming  to  be  the  ruler.  To  a  man 
of  moderate  abilities  it  would  be  easier  to  olay  such  a  part ; 


ASSASSINATION  OF  WILLIAM.  343 

but  a  man  of  rank,  talent,  and  love  of  power  is  easily 
tempted  to  overstep  the  narrow  boundary  line.  If  he  does 
not  do  so  because  he  exercises  self-control,  he  withstands 
the  strongest  temptation. 

The  contradiction  could  but  become  more  glaring  after- 
wards. There  were  two  constitutions  in  the  country — a 
hereditary  monarchical  dignity  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  com- 
mercial democracy  on  the  other.  There,  a  military  dictator, 
who  had  the  command  of  the  army  and  fleet,  appointed  all 
the  officers,  carried  on  wars,  and  guided  the  most  important 
parts  of  foreign  policy  ;  here,  a  parliamentary  sovereignty, 
which  was  always  clashing  with  the  military  one.  This 
could  not  fail  to  be  a  perpetual  source  of  difficulty,  and  it 
gave  rise  to  many  a  scene  of  bloodshed  in  the  country. 
The  contest  continued  on  and  off  during  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  lasted  till  the  overthrow  of  the  republic  out  of 
which  the  Orange  monarchy  arose. 

The  Union  of  Utrecht  was  the  signal  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  south  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  Parma. 
This  increased  the  difficulty  of  the  struggle,  especially  against 
such  a  general.  It  went  on  without  any  decisive  result, 
until  a  Roman  Catholic  fanatic  named  Gerard,  who  had 
been  aspiring  to  the  honour  for  seven  years,  contrived,  on 
loth  July,  1584,  to  murder  William. 

Six  persons  had  made  the  attempt  before  him,  in  order  ty 
obtain  the  reward  :  only  one  of  them  had  succeeded  in 
wounding  him.  The  last  obtained  access  to  him  under 
pretence  of  being  a  Calvinistic  fugitive,  lurked  about  Wil- 
liam's apartments  at  Delft,  and  seized  a  favourable  moment 
to  shoot  him.  We  are  assured  from  Dutch  sources  that  the 
Prince's  last  words  were,  "  O  God !  have  mercy  upon  my 
poor  people." 

The  Dutch  writers  delight  in  bringing  out  every  great 
feature  of  William's  character,  and  his  actions  latterly  had 
certainly  shown  more  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  pro- 
vinces than  regard  for  his  own  supremacy.  It  did  not 
yet  appear  how  a  crown  was  to  be  established  in  his  family. 

In  Gachard,  the  record  of  tedious  negotiations  is  to  be 
found  between  Gerard  and  Madrid  about  the  Prince's 
assassination.  Negotiations  with  the  assassin's  heirs,  who 
claimed  the  reward,  form  the  appropriate  conclusion.  It 
was  at  first  refused  to  them,  and  then  the  amount  of  it 
diminished. 


344   THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

William  did  not  die  too  soon,  either  for  his  country  or 
his  fame.  The  most  difficult  part  of  his  task  was  over,  and 
in  his  son  he  had  trained  a  skilful  general,  who  could  fill 
his  father's  military  office  as  skilfully  as  possible.  In  Spain 
the  effect  of  his  death  was  counteracted  by  the  fact  that  just 
at  that  juncture  a  change  took  place  in  the  position  of 
affairs  in  Europe.  A  sort  of  coalition  was  formed  against 
Spain,  which  gave  the  Netherlands  more  scope  and  breath- 
ing time.  Philip  was  occupied  principally  with  the  affairs 
of  France  and  England  until  his  death.  We  now  return  to 
France. 


PART  VI. 

THE   RELIGIOUS    WARS    IN   FRANCE,   UNTIL   THE 
RESTORATION  OF  THE  KINGDOM  BY  HENRY  IV.* 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  last  War  with  Spain  and  England,  1557-9. — Defeat  at  St.  Quentin, 
1557,  and  Gravelingen,  1558. — Taking  of  Calais,  Peace  ol  Cateau 
Cambrasis,  3rd  April,  1559. — Catharine  de  Medici  and  the  Go- 
vernment of  the  Guises. — French  Protestantism  in  Conflict  with 
the  State. — The  Clergy,  Humanism,  the  Sorbonne  and  Parliament. 
— First  Agitation  of  the  New  Doctrines. —  Persecution  of  the 
Heretics  after  1552. — The  Aristocracy  and  the  Princes  of  the  Blood 
attacked  by  Calvinism. — The  Conspiracy  of  Amboise,  March,  1560. 
— Crisis  and  Change  after  the  Death  of  King  Francis  II.,  5th  Decem- 
ber, 1560.  —  Successes  of  Protestantism,  1559. —  La  Renaudie's 
Project. — Conde's  Trial. — Catharine  de  Medici  as  Regent. 

SITUATION  OF  FRANCE  UNDER  HENRY  II.,  1547-59, 
AND  FRANCIS  II.,  1559-60. 

T^RANCE  now  first  experienced  the  throes  occasioned 
by  the  Reformation  and  Revolution  which  all  other 
States,  far  or  near,  had  already  passed  through.  A  period 
of  forty  years  of  great  internal  disorder  followed,  which  in 
many  of  its  features  resembled  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  Ger- 
many, and  chiefly  differs  from  it  in  its  final  result. 

Francis  I.  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Henry  II.,  1547- 
59,  whose  twelve  years'  reign  was  filled  by  the  heritage  of 

*  S.  Thuani,  Hist,  sui  Temporis.  London,  1733.  Davila,  Storia 
delle  Guerre  Civili  di  Francia.  1644.  Die  Memoiren  von  Vieilleville, 
Castelnau,  Brantome,  Tavannes,  Nevers.  Villeroi,  Mornay,  La  Tour 
d'Auvergne  Sully.  Michelet,  Hist,  de  France  au  i6ieme  Siecle.  1855. 
Schmidt,  Gesch.  von  Frankreich.  Hamburg,  1839.  Ranke,  Franzo- 
sische  Geschichte,  1852.  G.  Weber,  Geschichtliche  Darstellung  des 
Calvinismus.  1836.  Soldan,  Geschichte  des  Protestantismus  in  Frank- 
reich. 1855.  Von  Polenz,  Geschichte  des  Franz.  Calvinismus.  1859. 


346  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

his  father's  foreign  policy.  First,  there  were  the  last  wars 
against  Charles  V.,  in  which,  for  the  first  time,  thanks  to  the 
disorders  in  Germany,  France  was  successful.  In  1552 
France  succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  of  the  three 
bishoprics,  and  Charles  did  not  regain  them  in  the  following 
campaign  ;  then  the  less  successful  wars  with  Spain  and 
England,  1557-9.  But  even  in  these,  France  did  not  go 
empty  away.  The  battles  of  St.  Quentin  and  Gravelingen 
were  lost,  but  Calais,  the  last  English  possession  on  French 
soil,  was  conquered,  and  the  Peace  of  Cateau  Cambrasis, 
April,  1559,  did  not  demand  any  essential  sacrifices  from 
France. 

In  the  internal  policy  the  tendency  to  strengthen  the 
royal  supremacy  continued.  There  was  the  same  repression 
of  all  representative  and  corporate  elements  ;  the  same 
system  of  partly  absorbing,  partly  lulling  to  sleep,  all  other 
seats  of  power ;  the  same  endeavour,  which  fortune  favoured, 
to  invest  the  King  with  supreme  authority  as  under  Francis  I. 
Henry  did  not  equal  his  father  in  talent,  but,  although  much 
under  female  influence,  he  was  an  active  and  competent 
ruler.  As  fate  would  have  it,  he  received  a  wound  at  a 
tournament  which  cost  him  his  life,  and  then  followed  the 
crisis  from  which  it  took  France  forty  years  in  some  mea- 
sure to  recover. 

Henry  left  four  sons — a  sufficient  number,  as  it  appeared, 
to  secure  the  succession  to  the  house  of  Valois  for  a  long^ 
time  to  come — though  they  were  all  children.  Nobody 
then  knew  how  frail  and  weakly  they  all  were,  that  disease 
would  prey  upon  them,  nor  foresaw  that  what  was  not 
effected  by  natural  means  would  be  early  completed  by 
mental  and  moral  degradation.  There  was  a  singular 
fatality  in  the  family  history  of  this  last  king  of  the  house  of 
Valois.  He  had  been  married  from  political  motives  to  the 
niece  of  Clement  VII.,  Catharine  de  Medici.  This  ambitious 
woman  came  to  France  conscious  that  the  marriage  was  a 
political  one,  mentally  a  stranger  to  her  husband  ;  and  such 
she  always  remained.  This  placed  her  from  the  first  in  a  false 
position.  The  King  was  influenced  by  any  one  rather  than 
by  his  wife  ;  and  a  by  no  means  charming  mistress,  Diana  of 
Poitiers,  played  her  part  by  the  side  of  and  above  the  Queen. 

An  ambitious,  talented  Italian,  fond  ot  power,  who 
brought  to  the  throne  all  the  pride  of  the  Medicis,  and  had 
something  of  the  universal  political  ambition  of  her  relatives 


CATHARINE  DE  MEDICI.  347 

Leo  X.  and  Clement  VII.,  and  who,  as  a  true  daughter  of 
this  house,  was  not  only  richly  endowed  with  Italian 
cunning,  but  considered  any  means  allowable  if  they  con- 
duced to  the  end,  deeply  imbued  with  the  unscrupulousness 
of  this  Italian  school,  she  saw  herself  kept  for  years  in  the 
background,  and  deprived  of  all  legitimate  influence  in 
public  affairs.  She  could  never  hope  to  make  conquests  by 
her  feminine  charms  ;  her  forte  was  craft  and  cunning.  Such 
a  character  was  sure  to  be  dangerous,  especially  in  a  country 
where  she  was  looked  upon  as  a  stranger.  She  played  an 
ignominious  part  at  her  husband's  side,  and  did  not  even 
obtain  the  position  in  her  own  house  which,  as  the  mother 
of  the  princes,  was  her  due. 

This  explains  her  restless,  feverish  ambition.  Having 
been  for  many  years  restrained  and  irritated  by  contumely, 
she  now  broke  out  with  all  the  more  vehemence  ;  it  also 
explains  her  feeling  of  strangeness,  and  the  utter  absence  of 
a  consciousness  of  responsibility  for  her  actions.  She  had 
things  on  her  conscience  which  it  would  have  been  madness 
in  a  native  princess  to  commit.  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew was  the  crime  of  a  woman  who  forgot  that  she  was 
thereby  condemning  the  whole  house  of  Valois.  Her  success- 
ful attempt  to  suffer  her  children  to  be  ruined  in  debauchery, 
trifling,  and  childishness,  in  order  to  make  them  subservient 
to  her,  and  her  neglect  to  educate  them  to  rule,  were  the 
acts  of  a  princess  who  was  a  stranger  upon  the  throne  and 
in  the  country. 

She  was  the  curse  of  the  house  of  Valois.  She  gave  the 
reins  to  her  demoniacal  ambition  at  the  most  critical  period 
for  the  family,  and  satiated  her  Italian  revenge  upon  the 
noblest  of  the  nation.  Forgetting  her  duty  as  mother  of 
the  kings  of  France,  she  suffered  the  last  scions  of  the 
house  to  wither  away,  and  she  and  her  race  came  to  a 
miserable  end. 

Immediately  after  the  death  ol  her  husband,  in  1559,  she 
greedily  grasped  at  power.  The  young  King,  Francis  II., 
was  of  age  when  he  entered  his  fourteenth  year.  There 
could  therefore  be  no  legal  regency,  though  there  might  be 
an  actual  one,  for  a  weakly  monarch  of  sixteen  was  still 
incompetent  to  govern.  But  she  was  thwarted  in  her  first 
grasp  at  power. 

Under  Francis  I.,  a  family  previously  unknown  in  French 
history  had  begun  to  play  a  prominent  part.  A  successful, 


348  THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

rich,  distinguished  nobleman  had  appeared  in  Lorraine, 
which  was  still  looked  upon  by  the  French  as  a  German 
territory — Claude  de  Guise,  the  son  of  Re'ne  of  Lorraine,  a 
man  who  had  distinguished  himself  at  Marignano,  and  later 
against  Charles  V.  The  great  men  of  France  looked  down 
with  contempt  upon  the  upstart  house,  which  had  no  large 
estates,  and  was  not  thought  much  of  even  in  Lorraine. 
The  Bourbons  and  Montmorencys  especially  looked  upon 
the  Guises  as  a  race  of  insolent  upstarts,  who  had  come 
from  a  foreign  country  to  seek  at  court  a  position  which 
they  did  not  find  elsewhere,  and  to  thrust  aside  the  bearers 
of  ancient  and  meritorious  names. 

Whatever,  however,  might  be  thought  of  the  Guises,  it 
was  certain  that  they  were  not  wanting  in  ability.  Their 
nobility  was  very  ancient,  and  when  they  aspired  to  the 
French  crown  there  was  no  more  ancient  legitimate  race 
than  theirs.  After  Francis  I.  had  carried  on  four  unsuc- 
cessful wars,  Francis  of  Guise,  son  of  the  above-men- 
tioned Claude,  had  succeeded  in  occupying  Lorraine,  won  the 
three  bishoprics,  and  afterwards  defended  Metz  against 
Charles  V.  with  distinguished  ability  ;  and  the  only  success- 
ful feat  in  the  last  campaign  against  Spain  and  England,  the 
taking  of  Calais,  was  performed  by  him.  He  could  proudly 
say  to  the  great  lords,  "  Tell  me  what  you,  with  your  ancient 
nobility,  have  done  for  France.  I  have  done  more  for  her 
than  all  of  you  put  together."  One  of  his  brothers,  Charles 
of  Guise,  was  distinguished  for  his  spirit  and  boundless  am- 
bition. He  had  entered  the  ecclesiastical  order,  and  Rome 
had  early  recognised  in  him  a  convenient  tool.  The  young 
Archbishop  of  Rheims  became  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  played 
a  leading  part  at  Trent,  and  was  the  spokesman  and  most 
able  member  of  the  papal  party. 

The  brothers  succeeded  in  bringing  about  a  political 
marriage  which  promised  to  throw  the  King,  who  was  men- 
tally a  child,  entirely  into  their  hands. 

Their  sister  Mary  had  been  married  to  James  V.  of 
Scotland,  whose  crown  was  then  rather  an  insignificant  one, 
but  was  now  beginning  to  gain  importance.  The  issue  of 
this  marriage  was  a  charming  girl,  who  was  destined  for  the 
King's  wife.  She  was  betrothed  to  him  without  his  consent 
when  still  a  child.  The  young  Queen  was  Mary  Stuart. 
Her  misfortunes,  her  beauty,  and  her  connection  with 
European  history  havs  made  her  a  historical  personage, 


THE  CHURCH  IN  FRANCE.  349 

more  conspicuous  indeed  for  what  she  suffered  than  foi 
what  she  did ;  her  real  importance  is  not  commensurate 
with  the  position  she  occupies. 

This,  then,  was  the  position  of  the  brothers  Guise  at 
court.  The  King  was  the  husband  of  their  niece ;  both 
were  children  in  age  and  mind,  and  therefore  doubly  re- 
quired guidance.  The  brothers,  Francis  and  Charles,  had 
the  government  entirely  in  their  hands  ;  the  Duke  managed 
the  army,  the  Cardinal  the  finances  and  foreign  affairs. 
Two  such  leaders  were  the  mayors  of  the  palace.  The 
whole  constitution  of  the  court  reminds  us  of  the  rois 
faineants  and  the  office  of  major-domo  under  the  Carlo- 
vingians. 

Thus,  just  when  Catharine  was  about  to  take  advantage 
of  a  favourable  moment,  she  saw  herself  once  more  eclipsed 
and  thrust  aside,  and  that  by  insolent  upstarts  of  whom 
one  thing  only  was  certain,  that  they  possessed  unusual 
talents,  and  that  their  consciences  were  elastic  in  the  choice 
of  means. 

It  was  not  only  from  Catharine  that  the  supremacy  of 
the  Guises  met  with  violent  opposition,  but  also  from  Pro- 
testantism, the  importance  of  which  was  greatly  increasing 
in  France. 

FRENCH  PROTESTANTISM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  THE  STATE. 

France  had  not  been  unaffected  by  the  violent  storm 
which  Luther's  appearance  had  called  forth,  but  the  way  in 
which  the  new  teaching  had  to  fight  its  way  here  was  very 
different  from  the  reception  it  had  met  with  in  Germany. 
The  fact  that  the  Franciscan  monk,  Michael  Menot,  who, 
in  the  same  year  and  for  the  same  reason  as  Luther,  opposed 
the  sale  of  indulgences,  died  almost  unnoticed,  proves  that 
we  are  in  a  different  world. 

The  ancient  Church  of  France  was  not  in  less  need  of 
reform  than  the  Church  elsewhere.  Impartial  witnesses 
agree  in  stating  that  the  clergy  were  fearfully  demoralised. 

At  the  time  when,  in  accordance  with  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction,  the  ecclesiastics  elected  the  prelates,  there  were 
bitter  complaints  of  the  unscrupulousness  of  their  choice, 
and  the  incredible  dissoluteness  of  the  bishops  elected ;  and 
when,  after  the  Concordat  of  1516,  the  King  made  the 
appointments  to  the  hundred  and  six  bishoprics,  fourteert 
archbishoprics,  and  the  abbacies  and  priories,  outside  ob- 


350  THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

servers  were  struck  with  the  shameless  traffic  which  the 
Crown  made  with  these  places,  just  as  if  they  had  been 
bargains  about  "pepper  and  cinnamon,"  with  the  gifts  of 
benefices  to  diplomatists,  learned  men,  deserving  and  un- 
deserving, courtiers  and  soldiers,  with  all  the  inevitable 
demoralising  consequences  of  such  a  distribution  of  the 
office  of  spiritual  shepherd. 

It  was,  as  is  well  known,  the  Humanists  who  first  pointed 
out  the  decline  of  the  clergy.  The  Humanists  were  no 
strangers  to  France.  It  became  almost  a  second  home  to  them ; 
and  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  same  King,  Francis  I.,  who 
in  his  own  country  pitilessly  burnt  heretics  in  slow  fires,  gave 
his  hand  to  the  German  heretics  to  oppose  Charles  V.,  and 
might  be  justly  styled  by  his  learned  proteges  "  The  father 
of  learning." 

From  the  beginning  of  his  reign  Francis  I.  had  attracted 
learned  men,  both  native  and  foreign,  who  inclined  to  the 
new  tendencies,  to  his  court,  and  attached  them  to  his 
service  by  conferring  on  them  temporal  offices  and  spiritual 
benefices ;  a  great  "  College  des  Trois  Langues,"  with  double 
professorships  for  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  was  to  make 
Paris  a  centre  of  Humanistic  learning  as  it  had  once  been 
of  mediaeval  scholasticism  ;  and  if  the  scheme  was  not  carried 
out  in  its  original  magnificence,  the  school  of  heretical  lan- 
guages which  was  founded,  and  from  which  such  men  as 
Turnebus,  Lambin,  Du  Chesne,  and  Petrus  Ramus  were  to 
go  forth,  indicated  a  breach  with  the  past,  and  kept  up  a  per- 
petual irritation  with  the  followers  of  the  old  system. 

This  old  system  was  a  unity;  scholasticism  and  the 
mediaeval  Church  hung  together.  The  Sorbonne  felt  this, 
and  looked  askance  at  the  brilliance  of  its  Humanistic  rival, 
as  did  also  the  Parliament,  to  the  orthodox  jurists  of  which 
the  heretics  appeared  as  political  criminals. 

These  two  old  organs  of  France  were  more  consistent 
than  the  King  in  jealously  guarding  the  rights  of  ancient 
usage.  The  learned  gentlemen  of  the  Sorbonne  spoke 
of  Greek  and  Hebrew  like  the  German  monks,  who 
talked  of  the  newly-invented  language  of  a  so-called  New 
Testament,  and  roundly  asserted  that  whoever  learnt  Hebrew 
must  become  a  Jew.  The  most  zealous  fanatics  among 
them,  therefore,  such  as  Natalis  Beda,  summoned  the  pro- 
iessors  before  Parliament,  and  demanded  that  they  should 
not  be  permitted  to  expound  the  Vulgate  without  passing  a 


FRANCIS   I.   AND   THE  HERETICS.  351 

theological  examination,  in  order  that  no  more  might  be 
heard  of  that  heretical  mode  of  speaking,  "  So  says  the 
Hebrew  or  Greek  text ; "  and  the  faculty  acted  in  this  spirit 
when,  their  opinion  being  asked  about  the  Lutheran  contro- 
versy, they  decided  that  Luther's  teaching  must  be  utterly 
exterminated,  his  writings  publicly  given  to  the  flames,  and 
the  author  be  compelled  by  every  lawful  means  solemnly  tr 
recant  his  heresies. 

The  Sorbonne  repeatedly  and  urgently  demanded  a  strict 
and  relentless  conscience  police  for  all  France,  but  Francis  I. 
was  at  first  quite  indifferent  about  it.  The  appearance  of  a 
few  isolated  heretical  preachers  and  authors,  such  as  Lefevre, 
Berguin,  Farel,  Mazurier,  Brifonnet,  the  establishment  of  a 
reformed  congregation  at  Meaux  under  the  leadership  of  an 
eloquent  wool-comber,  Leclerc  (afterwards  burnt  with  cruel 
torments  at  Metz),  were  not  circumstances  which  seemed  to 
him  to  justify  exceptional  measures. 

But  it  was  different  after  his  return  from  the  Spanish 
imprisonment  which  the  lost  battle  of  Pavia,  in  1525,  had 
inflicted  on  him. 

Pope  Clement  VII.  had  taken  care  to  explain  to  the  humbled 
monarch  that  the  heretics  were  political  criminals  who  abo- 
lished all  class  distinctions,  incited  the  lowest  classes  to  rebel- 
lion, and  would  overturn  royal  authority  itself.  Parliament 
attributed  his  misfortunes  to  his  lukewarmness  against  the 
heretics.  Now,  therefore,  many  executions  followed,  and  in 
1535  there  was  a  bloody  persecution  ;  in  1543  he  issued, 
in  two  edicts  from  Fontainebleau,  the  most  stringent  mea- 
sures against  the  heretics  as  "  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace,  rebels  against  the  King  and  justice,  conspirators 
against  the  prosperity  of  the  State,  which  was  specially 
dependent  on  the  maintenance  of  the  purity  of  the  Catholic 
faith."  This  was  followed  by  the  proclamation  of  twenty- 
five  articles  of  faith,  drawn  up  by  the  Sorbonne,  in  order 
that  every  one  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  might  know  what 
he  was  to  believe  and  hold  as  true,  unless  he  desired  to 
come  into  contact  with  the  avenging  arm  of  Parliament. 

The  policy  which  rendered  an  occasional  flirtation  with 
the  German  Protestants,  and  active  interference  in  the 
German  troubles,  desirable,  did  not,  of  course,  alter  this 
attitude.  Henry  II.  proceeded  exactly  like  Francis  I.,  and 
the  Guises  kept  him  firmly  to  this  course. 

Henry  went  farther  with  the  German  Protestants  than 


352  THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

Francis,  but  the  persecutions  and  executions  of  the  native 
heretics  increased ;  and  now  under  Francis  II.,  when  the 
brothers  Francis  and  Charles  of  Guise  were  all-powerful, 
France  was  under  a  system  in  religious  matters  which  was 
really  identical  with  that  of  Philip  II.  and  Alba.  But 
meanwhile  French  Protestantism,  thanks  to  the  folly  of  its 
persecutors,  gained  in  the  number  and  importance  of  its 
followers.  1  he  system  of  persecution  had  been  submitted 
to  as  to  inevitable  destiny  under  Francis  I.  and  Henry  II., 
but  it  could  not  be  so  easily  forgiven  from  foreign  ministers, 
and  the  all-powerful  favourites  who  had  usurped  the  govern- 
ment ;  from  them  it  was  felt  to  be  a  gross  injustice,  and  the 
more  so  as  the  heresy  was  no  longer  confined  to  poor 
artisans  at  Meaux  or  Metz,  or  isolated  learned  sects,  but 
was  become  a  power  which  began  to  influence  the  best  and 
most  independent  grades  of  society. 

Since  Calvin  had  built  up  the  citadel  of  French  Protest- 
antism in  the  neighbouring  Geneva,  and  year  by  year 
received  his  fugitive  brethren  in  the  faith,  to  send  them 
back  as  well-instructed  apostles,  the  Propaganda  of  the  new 
teaching  was  organized.  The  strictly  systematic  character 
of  Calvinism  was  well  adapted  to  find  acceptance  with  this 
nation.  The  democratic  and  republican  tendencies  also  of 
this  ecclesiastical  commonwealth  was  attractive  as  a  counter- 
poise to  the  all-devouring  monarchical  absolutism. 

Thus  Protestantism  had  become  a  party  which  did  not, 
like  Lutheranism  in  Germany,  spring  up  from  the  depths, 
had  its  seat  and  main  support  among  the  masses,  and  then 
rose  higher ;  but  it  numbered  its  chief  adherents  among 
the  middle  and  upper  grades  of  society,  spread  its  roots 
rather  among  the  nobles  than  the  citizens,  and  among 
learned  men  and  families  of  distinction  rather  than  among 
the  people.  A  Calvinistic  school  had  been  developed  of 
strict,  serious,  almost  gloomy  personages,  in  whom  the  light 
French  character  seemed  to  be  almost  extinguished,  whose 
conduct  was  irreproachable,  whose  views  of  life  were  full 
of  priestly  exclusiveness,  and  who  formed  a  moral  opposition 
to  the  licentiousness  of  the  luxurious  court  life  which 
Francis  I.  had  encouraged.  Men  like  Coligny,  D'Aubigne, 
and  Sully,  were  distinguished  characters,  cut  as  it  were  from 
one  block — men  of  unimpeachable  morals,  great  earnestness, 
and  unyielding  energy. 

Then  there  was   another   thing :    some   of  the  highest 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AMBOISE.  353 

aristocracy,  who  were  discontented,  and  submitted  un- 
willingly to  the  supremacy  of  the  Guises,  had  joined  the 
Calvinistic  opposition — some  undoubtedly  from  policy,  others 
from  conviction.  The  Turennes,  the  Rohans,  and  Soubises, 
pure  nobles,  who  addressed  the  King  as  "  mon  cousin," 
especially  the  Bourbons,  the  agnates  of  the  royal  house, 
had  adopted  the  new  faith. 

A  son  of  St.  Louis  had  married  Beatrice,  the  heiress  of 
the  earldom  of  Bourbon,  and  the  Bourbon  territory  had 
devolved  upon  him.  This  branch  had  divided  into  two 
smaller  branches,  one  of  which  had  died  out  with  the  con- 
stable, the  other  was  represented  by  Antoine  and  Louis. 
The  elder  brother  had  married  the  heiress  of  Beam  and 
Navarre,  Jeanne  d'Albret,  an  earnest,  powerful,  heroic 
woman,  and  from  this  marriage  sprang  Henry  IV.  The 
younger  brother  was  of  light  French  blood,  a  true  French 
cavalier,  with  none  too  much  of  religious  fervour.  Jeanne 
was  a  zealous  Calvinist,  her  husband  from  policy  agreed  with 
her,  and  Louis  of  Conde  joined  the  same  party,  for  it  lent 
him  a  powerful  weapon  against  the  Guises. 

After  France  had  long  been  ruled  by  kings  who  really 
reigned  and  interfered  personally  with  effect,  she  now  had  over 
her  a  weakly  prince,  influenced  by  powerful  families,  over 
the  unhappy  royal  house  a  mother  like  Catharine  de  Medici, 
and  for  the  first  time  for  a  long  period  there  were  powerful 
religious  and  political  parties  closely  intermingled  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  Throne.  Protestantism  united  with  the  dis- 
contented elements  among  the  highest  nobles  ;  the  might 
and  majesty  of  the  kingdom  were  greatly  decreased  ;  vast 
debts  had  accumulated  under  the  late  governments  ;  with- 
out the  States,  recovery  was  impossible.  These  elements  in 
some  degree  explain  the  great  convulsions  which  followed. 

THE   CONSPIRACY   OF   AMBOISE,    MARCH,    1560. — CRISIS 
AND  CHANGE  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  KING. 

In  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  in  spite  of  all  the  edicts  and 
executions,  Protestantism  had  made  great  progress.  The 
Parisian  Parliament  was  no  longer  the  Inquisition  of  former 
days;  the  chambers  were  divided;  the  great  chamber  passed 
sentences  of  death,  in  accordance  with  the  royal  edicts, 
while  the  Tournelle,  as  it  was  called,  first  warned,  and 
then,  amidst  heretical  discussions,  only  passed  sentence  of 
banishment  at  the  worst.  One  of  the  ministers,  Anne  du 

A  A 


354  THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

Bourg,  who  afterwards  paid  for  it  with  his  life,  zealously 
took  the  part  of  the  heretics  in  the  King's  presence.  He 
asked  for  proofs  of  the  accusation  that  the  heretics,  in 
whose  mouths  the  name  of  the  King  was  never  heard  except 
to  pray  for  and  bless  him,  were  traitors  who  wished  to 
dethrone  him,  while  all  their  guilt  consisted  in  the  courage 
with  which  they  demanded  the  abolition  of  the  crying 
abuses  in  the  ancient  Church.  "  Surely,"  he  said  in 
conclusion,  "  it  is  no  light  thing  to  condemn  to  death 
people  who  call  upon  Jesus  in  the  midst  of  the  flames." 

About  the  same  period,  in  the  spring  of  1559,  interdicted 
Protestantism  had  secretly  reviewed  its  congregations,  and 
at  the  first  national  synod  drawn  up  a  confession  of  faith 
and  a  constitution  for  the  new  Church.  Preachers  and 
elders  had  appeared  from  every  part  of  France,  and  their 
eighty  articles  of  zSth  May,  1559,  have  become  the  code  of 
laws  of  French  Protestantism.  The  Calvinistic  principle  of 
the  Congregational  Church,  with  choice  of  its  own  minister, 
deacons,  and  elders  ;  a  consistory  which  maintained  strict 
discipline  in  matters  of  faith  and  morals,  and  in  extreme 
cases  inflicted  excommunication — that  is,  exclusion  from  the 
sacraments — was  established  upon  French  soil,  and  was 
afterwards  publicly  accepted  by  the  whole  party. 

The  more  adherents  this  party  gained  in  the  upper  circles, 
the  bolder  was  its  attitude ;  there  was,  indeed,  no  end  to  the 
executions,  or  to  the  edicts  against  heresy,  but  a  spirit  of 
opposition,  previously  unknown,  had  gradually  gained 
ground.  Prisoners  were  set  free,  the  condemned  were 
rescued  from  the  hands  of  the  executioners  on  the  way  to 
the  scaffold,  and  a  plan  was  devised  among  the  numerous 
fugitives  in  foreign  lands  for  producing  a  turn  in  the  course 
of  events  by  violent  means. 

La  Renaudie,  a  reformed  nobleman  from  Perigord,  who 
had  sworn  vengeance  on  the  Guises  for  the  execution  of  his 
brother,  had,  with  a  number  of  other  persons  of  his  own 
way  of  thinking,  formed  a  plan  for  attacking  the  Guises, 
carrying  off  the  King,  and  placing  him  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  Bourbon  agnates.  If  the  King  required  a  regent, 
the  princes  of  the  blood  alone  had  a  right  to  the  office ; 
with  them  there  would  be  a  native  Government ;  the  nobles 
and  the  new  religion  would  obtain  redress. 

The  project  was  betrayed;  the  Guises  succeeded  in 
placing  the  King  in  security  in  the  Castle  of  Amboise ; 


DEATH   OF  FRANCIS   II.  355 

a  number  of  the  conspirators  were  seized,  another  troop 
overpowered  and  dispersed  on  their  attack  upon  the  castle 
on  the  iyth  of  March,  1560;  some  were  killed,  some  taken 
prisoners  and  at  once  executed. 

It  was  then  discovered,  or  pretended,  that  the  youngest 
of  the  Bourbon  princes,  Louis  of  Conde,  was  implicated  in 
the  conspiracy.  It  is  not  known  to  this  day  how  far  this 
was  true,  but  it  is  certain  that  had  the  project  succeeded  it 
would  have  been  very  agreeable  to  him,  and  that  he  was 
thoughtless  enough  to  make  it  not  improbable.  The 
Guises  now  ventured,  in  contempt  of  French  historical  tra- 
ditions, to  imprison  this  prince  of  the  blood,  this  agnate  of 
the  reigning  house;  to  summon  him  before  an  arbitrary 
tribunal  of  partisans,  and  to  condemn  him  to  death, 
November,  1560.  If  the  King  had  done  this,  if  his  guilt 
had  been  proved,  it  would  not  have  been  an  unusual,  nor, 
according  to  the  notions  of  justice  of  that  age,  an  illegal 
proceeding.  But  this  was  quite  another  thing ;  his  guilt  was 
not  proved,  and  the  trial  itself,  instituted  by  two  foreigners 
against  one  of  the  princes  of  the  blood,  was  in  the  highest 
degree  informal. 

This  affair  kept  all  France  in  suspense.  All  the  nobles, 
although  strongly  infected  with  Huguenot  ideas,  were  on 
Conde's  side;  even  those  who  condemned  his  religious 
opinions  made  his  cause  their  own.  They  justly  thought 
that  if  he  fell,  none  of  them  would  be  safe. 

In  the  midst  of  this  ferment,  destiny  interposed. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  1560,  Francis  II.  died  sud- 
denly, and  a  complete  change  took  place.  His  death  put  an 
end  to  a  network  of  intrigues,  which  aimed  at  knocking  the 
rebellion,  political  and  religious,  on  the  head.  The  States 
had  been  convoked  at  Orleans,  in  order  to  relieve  the 
pecuniary  embarrassments  of  the  Crown.  It  was  intended, 
also,  with  the  aid  of  a  numerous  military  force,  to  extirpate 
heresy,  or  at  least  to  render  harmless  the  most  influential  of 
its  adherents.  Every  member  was  to  swear  allegiance  to 
the  articles  drawn  up  by  the  Sorbonne  in  1542,  and 
whoever  refused  was  to  forfeit  life  and  property.  AH 
this  was  in  progress ;  the  most  suspicious  representatives 
were  secured  when  the  King  died. 

During  this  confusion  one  individual  had  been  watching 
the  course  of  events  with  the  eagerness  of  a  beast  ready 
to  seize  on  its  prey.  Catharine  of  Medici  was  convinced 


356  THE   RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

that  the  time  of  her  dominion  had  at  length  arrived.  Her 
life  had  been  ruled  by  one  idea — that  of  ruling  herself; 
whatever  stood  in  her  way  was  hateful  to  her,  and  she  was 
enough  of  an  Italian  to  shrink  from  no  means  to  give  vent 
to  her  hatred.  She  liated  the  Guises  because  they  had 
taken  the  government  out  of  her  hands ;  the  Condes'  party 
was  compromised  by  the  proceedings  of  Amboise  and  the 
trial,  and  between  the  contending  parties  she  hoped  to  step 
in  as  the  guiding  power.  She  was  thoroughly  adapted  to 
play  the  part  which  required  an  intriguing  spirit,  Italian 
cunning  and  cold  blood,  in  the  choice  of  means.  But  she 
was  not  equal  to  great  political  actions. 

Francis  II.  was  scarcely  dead  when  she  seized  upon  the 
person  and  the  power  of  Charles  IX.  He  was  a  boy  of  ten 
years  old,  not  more  promising  than  his  eldest  brother, 
sickly  and  weakly  like  all  the  sons  of  Henry  II.,  more 
attached  to  his  mother  than  the  others,  and  he  had  been 
neglected  by  the  Guises. 

Immediately  on  the  death  of  her  eldest  son,  the  mother 
stepped  forward  as  the  guardian  and  regent  of  her  second, 
though  both  titles  were  carefully  avoided.  The  sudden 
death  of  Francis  had  overthrown  the  dominion  of  the 
Guises. 

But  she  would  not  have  been  able  to  possess  herself  of 
power  without  assistance  from  various  quarters ;  she  needed 
especially  the  support  of  the  high  aristocracy,  of  the  princes 
of  the  blood,  who  hated  the  Guises,  but  still  demanded 
that  they  should  have  a  share  in  the  government;  she 
therefore  came  to  an  understanding  with  them,  particularly 
with  Antoine  of  Navarre,  and  she  could  not  do  this 
without  making  concessions. 

One  of  her  first  acts  was  to  liberate  Conde';  this  was 
a  decided  step  towards  reconciliation  with  the  Bourbons 
and  the  Protestants.  The  whole  situation  was  all  at  once 
changed.  The  court  was  ruled  by  Catharine ;  her  feverish 
thirst  for  power  was  satisfied.  The  Guises  and  their  ad- 
herents were,  indeed,  permitted  to  remain  in  their  offices 
and  posts  of  honour,  in  order  not  fatally  to  offend  them ; 
but  their  supremacy  was  destroyed,  and  the  new  power  was 
based  upon  the  Queen's  understanding  with  the  heads  of 
the  Huguenot  party. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

CHARLES   IX.,    1560-74,   AND    THE    HUGUENOTS, 
UNTIL    1570. 

The  First  Compromise  with  the  Reform  Party. — The  States  of  the 
Empire  at  Orleans,  1560-61. —  The  Discussion  on  Religion  at 
Poissy,  Autumn,  1561. — The  Edict  of  1 7th  January,  1562. — The 
Three  First  Religious  Wars,  1562-70. — The  Massacre  at  Vassy, 
March,  1562. — Character  of  the  Civil  War. — The  First  Religious 
War. — Battle  of  St.  Dreux.  December,  1562. — Edict  of  Amboise, 
March,  1563.— The  Second  Religious  War,  1567-8.— The  Edict 
of  Longjumeaux,  March,  1568.  —  The  Third  Religious  War, 
1569-70. — Victories  of  the  Catholics  at  Jarnac  and  Moncontour. — 
Religious  Peace  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye,  August,  1570. — Cha- 
racter of  Charles  IX. 

THE  FIRST  COMPROMISE  WITH  THE  REFORM  PARTY. — 
THE  STATES  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AT  ORLEANS,  1560-61. 
— THE  DISCUSSION  ON  RELIGION  AT  POISSY,  AUTUMN, 
1561. — THE  EDICT  OF  JANUARY,  1562. 

WHILE  this  change  was  taking  place,  the  States  as- 
sembled at  Orleans  were  discussing  two  important 
questions  which  had  been  left  unsolved  for  the  young  King 
by  his  predecessors :  the  relief  of  the  financial  necessities 
of  the  Crown,  which  were  so  great  that  the  Chancellor 
1'Hopital,  as  he  said  publicly,  could  not  speak  of  them 
without  tears ;  and  the  deliverance  of  the  Church  from  ruin 
and  schism. 

The  clergy,  the  nobles,  and  the  third  estate  were  agreed 
that  on  this  latter  point  something  decisive  must  be  done  ; 
but  on  the  question,  what  ?  their  views  diverged.  The  clergy 
demanded  the  liberties  of  which  the  concordat  had  deprived 
them,  and  the  extermination  of  heresy;  the  nobles  were 
divided  into  the  strictly  orthodox  party  and  the  moderate 
reformers ;  while  the  third  estate  was  just  as  decided  in 


358  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

demanding  amelioration  of  the  feudal  laws,  legal  protection 
for  and  care  of  the  common  people,  abolition  of  the  per- 
secutions for  heresy,  and  the  convocation  of  a  General 
Council.  In  complaints  about  the  decline  of  morality  and 
education  among  the  clergy,  the  third  estate  and  the  nobles 
were  entirely  agreed. 

It  was  clear  that  the  Government  must  adopt  some 
attitude  with  regard  to  the  great  question,  and  that  it  could 
not  return  to  the  policy  of  the  Guises  at  pleasure. 

Protestantism  had  become  a  power  which  demanded  the 
gravest  consideration ;  it  no  longer  numbered  only  a  hand- 
ful of  obscure  sectaries,  but  a  large  part  of  the  nation,  and 
some  of  the  most  highly  educated  and  wealthy  personages 
were  among  its  ranks. 

The  number  of  the  Huguenot  congregations  was  already 
reckoned  at  two  thousand.  Protestantism  prevailed  in  whole 
districts — in  Normandy,  the  whole  south-west  of  France, 
ancient  Aquitaine,  Guienne,  the  Cevennes,  some  parts  on 
the  Spanish  frontier,  Languedoc,  Dauphin  e;  in  large  cities 
such  as  Orleans,  Bordeaux,  Lyons ;  in  Paris  itself  it  was 
producing  a  great  ferment ;  and  in  Navarre,  Jeanne  D'Albret, 
the  most  zealous  friend  of  Calvinism,  was  reigning.  Many 
thousands  among  the  nobles,  of  the  citizens  and  the 
peasantry,  had  adopted  the  new  faith. 

A  representation  which  was  made  to  the  Pope  by  the 
moderate  party  among  the  prelates,  in  the  autumn  of  1561, 
states  that  a  fourth  (the  Reformers  said  half)  of  the 
whole  population  of  the  empire  was  estranged  from  the 
Church,  and  that  this  fourth  consisted  of  nobles,  learned 
men,  wealthy  citizens,  and  those  among  the  lower  classes 
who  had  seen  the  world  and  could  bear  arms.  With  so 
many  noblemen,  and  old,  well-disciplined  troops,  there  was 
no  lack  of  strength,  judgment,  or  education — for  three- 
fourths  of  the  men  of  learning  belonged  to  them  ;  there  was 
no  lack  of  money  among  the  nobles  and  merchants  ;  and 
there  was,  besides,  so  much  unity  and  determination,  that 
there  could  be  no  hope  of  converting  them  by  force,  without 
inflicting  a  wound  on  the  nation  from  which  it  would  take 
it  half  a  century  to  recover.  Nothing,  in  fact,  was  accom- 
plished against  a  party  who  possessed  this  moral  and  ma- 
terial power  by  burning  books  and  men.  Either  a  tremen- 
dous conflict  must  be  encountered,  which  would  perhaps 
turn  to  the  advantage  of  some  foreign  power,  or  concessions 


THE  EDICT  OF  ST.   GERMAIN.  359 

must  be  made.  These  they  were  now  almost  disposed  to 
grant. 

Catharine  was  certainly  not  influenced  in  this  by  religious 
opinions.  There  was  never  the  least  evidence  that  she 
leaned  to  one  side  or  the  other.  She  was  a  Catholic  out- 
wardly ;  as  a  Medici,  a  relation  of  two  popes,  she  had  never 
learned  to  be  anything  else.  Protestantism,  with  its  Calvin- 
istic  strictness,  could  be  as  little  congenial  to  her  frivolous 
views  of  life  as  its  democratic  tendencies  to  her  ambition. 
But  she  knew  how  to  wear  the  colours  that  were  in  vogue, 
and  to  change  them  when  occasion  arose.  The  same 
person  who  instigated  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
could  issue  edicts  of  toleration,  and  soon  after  the  massacre 
tolerate  the  Protestants  again. 

The  first  complaints  of  the  Reformers  were  answered  by 
an  edict,  by  which  all  the  imprisoned  heretics  were  released, 
but  warned  to  mend  their  ways.  An  attempt  was  then 
to  be  made  to  settle  the  controversy  by  a  discussion  on 
religion  at  Poissy.  This  took  place  in  the  autumn  of  1561. 
Calvin's  most  talented  pupil,  Theodore  Beza,  measured  his 
strength  with  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  Charles  of  Guise, 
as  the  representative  .of  the  French  prelates. 

The  brilliant  eloquence  of  Beza,  who,  like  most  of  the 
Calvinistic  preachers,  was  not  only  a  theologian  but  a 
polished  man  of  the  world,  distinguished  him  greatly  from 
the  average  theologians  of  the  day.  There  was  nothing  of 
the  ordinary  sectary  about  him;  he  behaved  with  perfect 
courtesy ;  he  made  some  impression  on  the  court.  It  was 
seen  that  these  were  people  with  whom  intercourse  might 
be  held,  though  no  closer  approach  was  to  be  thought  of. 

An  edict  had  been  issued  in  July,  which  pleased  neither 
party,  and  gave  so  much  dissatisfaction  that  it  was  not  pro- 
claimed in  a  single  French  town  except  Paris,  while  the 
services  were  openly  continued  and  the  communion  cele- 
brated. A  moderate  edict  of  toleration  was  then  tried. 

On  the  iyth  of  January,  1562,  the  Edict  of  St.  Germain 
was  issued,  by  which  the  policy  which  had  been  pursued  for 
forty  years,  of  supporting  the  Protestants  abroad  and  perse- 
cuting them  at  home,  was  given  up. 

The  Protestants  were  forbidden  to  possess  any  churches 
of  their  own ;  they  were  to  give  up  those  they  had,  and 
neither  to  buy  nor  build  others.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
were  permitted,  until  further  notice,  to  hold  their  services 


360  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

outside  the  towns,  unarmed,  by  day,  and  the  police  were  to 
protect  them.  They  were  to  observe  the  laws  of  the  State 
and  the  festivals  of  the  Romish  Church ;  were  not  to  hold 
any  consistories  or  synods  without  consent  of  the  higher 
powers ;  to  make  no  statutes,  to  organize  no  troops  either 
for  offensive  or  defensive  warfare,  and  to  raise  no  taxes 
among  themselves.  All  the  Reformers  were  to  take  an 
oath  to  teach  only  in  accordance  with  the  Scriptures,  and 
not  to  neglect  the  mass  and  similar  institutions,  &c. 

It  was  but  a  very  limited  amount  of  toleration ;  still  it 
was  a  great  change  when  it  was  considered  that  in  practice 
the  edicts  had  not  been  carried  out  to  the  letter,  and  in  very 
important  respects  all  legal  ground  for  persecution  was 
removed.  If  Calvinism  had  made  astonishing  progress 
when  it  was  proscribed,  what  might  not  be  expected  when 
it  was  permitted  ?  "  If,"  wrote  Calvin,  "  the  liberty  pro- 
mised us  in  the  edicts  lasts,  the  Papacy  will  fall  to  the 
ground  of  itself." 

One  thing  was  certain,  that  if  the  Reformers  did  not  wish 
to  lose  everything,  they  must  submit  to  the  edict,  even  if  it 
was  in  some  respects  harsh.  Beza  justly  felt  this,  for  he 
enjoined  strict  obedience  on  all  the  communities.  But  the 
disturbance  of  the  peace  came  from  the  other  side. 

Catharine's  wish  to  come  to  some  terms  with  the  heretics, 
without  breaking  with  the  Pope  and  Philip  II.,  was  not 
enough  to  put  an  end  to  the  spirit  of  persecution  which  had 
been  fostered  by  the  traditions  of  forty  years.  The  posts  of 
authority  in  most  of  the  cities,  and  especially  in  the  Parisian 
Parliament,  were  occupied  by  Catholics ;  the  people  could 
not  all  at  once  accustom  themselves  to  acknowledge  as 
legal  the  services  which  they  had  hitherto  scoffed  at  and 
molested,  especially  since  it  was  said  that  the  Queen  was 
not  in  earnest,  and  had  only  made  a  sacrifice  to  policy. 

Causes  of  irritation  and  disputes  arose,  and  the  Queen 
showed  little  disposition  to  interfere. 

THE  THREE  FIRST  RELIGIOUS  WARS. — THE  MASSACRE  AT 
VASSV,  MARCH,  1562,  TO  THE  RELIGIOUS  PEACE  OF 
ST.  GERMAIN,  AUGUST,  1570. 

Meanwhile  an  unheard-of  violation  of  the  January  Edict 
took  place.  On  Sunday  morning,  ist  of  March,  1562,  the 
brothers  Guise,  with  a  suite  of  two  hundred  armed  nobles  and 


THE  FIRST  WAR.  361 

soldiers,  entered  the  little  town  of  Vassy  as  the  Protestants 
were  assembling  for  worship  in  a  barn.  The  preaching  had 
begun,  when  some  of  the  Duke's  followers  rushed  in,  dis- 
turbed the  worship,  and  made  an  uproar.  Of  course  the 
congregation  tried  to  defend  themselves.  The  armed  men 
then  attacked  them  in  a  mass,  and  the  defenceless  people 
were  shot  or  cut  down  with  sabres,  the  rest  dispersed,  and 
their  houses  plundered. 

The  news  of  the  massacre  of  Vassy  flew  through 
France.  It  was  universally  believed  that  it  was  a  pre- 
meditated and  most  mischievous  breach  of  the  treaty,  and 
there  is  nothing  in  history  to  refute  it.  The  Duke  said,  in 
self-justification,  that  he  sent  two  of  his  people  into  the 
barn  to  reprove  the  heretics  for  their  disobedience ;  but  this 
constituted  a  breach  of  the  peace.  The  Guises  wished  for 
a  conflict  as  a  means  of  regaining  their  power,  and  they 
had  their  wish,  for  the  massacre  was  the  signal  for  the  first 
civil  war. 

Thus  began  those  fearful  wars  which  lasted  from  this  time 
to  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  and  they  comprised  everything  that 
can  make  war  horrible — religious  and  political  fanaticism, 
interference  from  abroad,  wild  passions  of  every  sort,  and 
that  fearful  hatred  by  which  two  contending  parties  who 
are  related  are  generally  animated.  In  their  horrors,  in  the 
European  sympathy  they  elicited,  in  their  course,  these  wars 
remind  us  of  the  great  German  war  ;  only  that  in  this  case  a 
man  appeared  who,  supported  by  the  monarchical  inclina- 
tions of  the  nation,  in  a  few  years  restored  its  ancient  glory 
to  the  kingdom,  its  lost  unity  to  the  nation.  But  the  conflict 
was  terrible ;  the  desolation  of  whole  neighbourhoods,  the 
massacre  of  whole  populations,  has  given  it  a  horrible  im- 
mortality. It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  a  certain  ferocity  in 
the  French  nation,  which,  when  the  external  polish  is  once 
rubbed  off,  breaks  out  with  a  boundless  recklessness  which 
is  not  found  among  other  civilised  nations.  This  was  the 
case  now,  as  well  as  in  the  great  political  Revolution  of 
1789.  Other  nations  have  experienced  the  horrors  of  reli- 
gious and  political  wars,  but  history  presents  no  other 
instance  of  the  refinements  of  cruelty  which  were  practised 
in  France  in  1793. 

Hostilities  began  with  the  petty  warfare  of  parties  in 
cities  and  districts ;  at  Paris,  Sens,  Toulouse,  Rouen,  and 
other  places,  the  Catholics  fell  upon  their  Protestant  fellow- 


362  THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

citizens,  destroyed  their  houses  of  prayer,  and  murdered 
those  who  fell  into  their  power.  The  Huguenots  then  threw 
themselves  upon  the  Catholic  churches,  destroyed  images, 
altars,  and  censers — in  short,  everything  that  belonged  to 
Catholic  worship.  Thus  image-breaking  and  bloodshed 
raged  for  weeks  in  the  fairest  districts  of  France  before  the 
hostile  armies  faced  each  other.  When  these  at  length — one 
under  Guise,  the  other  under  Coligny — were  set  in  motion, 
nothing  but  skirmishes  and  devastation  of  the  enemy's  coun- 
try took  place  at  first ;  no  decisive  action.  But  it  became 
clearer  and  clearer  that  the  Huguenots,  who  lost  one  town 
after  another,  and  whose  lack  of  money  was  ever  increasing, 
were  decidedly  at  a  disadvantage  in  conflict  with  the  grow- 
ing power  of  the  Guises.  They  lost  the  battle  of  St.  Dreux, 
December,  1562;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  their  adversary's 
most  able  general,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  was  assassinated  by 
a  Huguenot  nobleman,  i8th  of  February,  1563,  and  with 
him  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  attempts  at  mediation 
which  Catharine  had  been  making  was  removed. 

They  had  been  tearing  each  other  to  pieces  for  months; 
the  Protestant  minority  had  not  been  able  to  vanquish  the 
majority,  which  had  foreign  aid,  but  neither  had  the  majority 
been  able  to  exterminate  the  heretics.  .  If  the  fanaticism  of 
the  Catholics  demanded  the  sacrifice  of  thousands  one  day, 
it  was  balanced  by  the  thousands  that  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  re- 
venge of  their  adversaries  the  next.  At  length  they  desisted 
from  this  murderous  work,  not  because  they  were  reconciled, 
but  exhausted,  and  saw  that  a  truce  was  necessary.  Precisely 
a  year  after  the  massacre  of  Vassy  a  new  edict  was  issued 
at  Amboise,  which  went  a  step  farther  than  that  of  1562. 

The  Reformers  were  granted  liberty  of  conscience,  an 
amnesty  for  the  past,  and  were  promised  undisturbed  enjoy- 
ment of  their  property,  honours,  and  offices.  The  celebra- 
tion of  divine  service  was  regulated  as  follows :  to  the  barons 
and  all  the  lords  invested  with  superior  jurisdiction,  was 
granted  the  right  to  hold  services  at  their  chateaux  for 
themselves  and  their  retainers ;  to  the  inferior  nobles,  only  for 
themselves  ;  in  every  official  district  a  town  was  appointed, 
in  the  suburbs  of  which  Reformed  service  might  be  held ; 
Paris  always  excepted. 

The  edict  greatly  favoured  the  superior  nobility,  but 
was  very  disadvantageous  to  the  cities ;  for  them,  through 
the  limitation  of  permission  to  hold  service  to  one  town  in 


THE   SECOND  AND  THIRD   WARS.  363 

a  district,  as  Coligny  said,  more  churches  were  annihilated 
by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  than  had  been  destroyed  by  all  the 
inimical  powers  at  work  for  ten  years  before. 

It  was  not  long  before  this  edict  was  infringed,  for 
neither  party  was  disposed  to  abide  by  it ;  the  Catholic 
majority  saw  in  it  only  a  false  peace  concluded  insincerely 
by  the  Crown,  and  the  Calvinists  would  not  give  up  the 
hope  of  some  day  attaining  power  in  France.  The  number 
of  their  adherents  was  continually  increasing,  and  their 
propaganda  pursued  its  course. 

It  came  to  a  second  religious  war,  which  ended,  like  the 
first,  without  any  decision  in  1567-8;  and,  as  they  again 
left  off  fighting  from  exhaustion,  the  Edict  of  Longjumeaux 
was  issued,  23rd  of  March,  1568,  which  in  essentials  con- 
firmed the  previous  one. 

In  1569  the  war  began  again.  I  will  not  relate  the  history 
of  it  in  detail,  but  will  confine  myself  to  the  decisive  actions. 
Other  things  remained  as  they  were ;  the  Catholics  main- 
tained their  supremacy,  but  the  Protestants  could  not  be 
exterminated. 

It  was  one  of  Coligny's  merits  that  though  often  beaten 
he  never  quitted  the  field,  and  always  managed  to  secure  an 
honourable  position  for  the  Protestants. 

The  third  war,  which  was  principally  caused  by  the 
reaction  of  events  in  the  Netherlands,  and  by  the  report 
that  Alba  had  decided  with  the  Queen  Mother  upon  striking 
a  blow  at  the  Protestants  in  France,  similar  to  the  one  he 
was  aiming  at  the  heretics  in  the  Netherlands,  was  decided 
by  the  defeat  of  the  Huguenots  at  Jarnac,  where  Conde  and 
Moncontour  fell,  and  ended  by  the  Peace  of  St.  Germain- 
en-Laye,  August,  1570,  which  irrevocably  confirmed  the 
previous  concessions,  and  added  that  in  every  district  two 
places  should  be  granted  for  the  celebration  of  Protestant 
worship ;  but  they  were  mostly  small  towns,  and  it  was  only 
in  the  suburbs  of  them  ;  and  that  in  all  towns  the  Reformed 
service  should  remain  as  it  had  been  up  to  the  ist  of 
August.  The  Huguenots  of  every  age  were  acknowledged 
as  faithful  subjects  and  servants,  with  a  complete  amnesty ; 
their  rights  were  acknowledged  as  equal  to  those  of  the 
Catholics,  and  a  law  of  recusance  was  granted  them,  to 
defend  them  from  the  Catholic  Parliament. 

The  four  cities  of  La  Rochelle,  Montauban,  Cognac,  La 
Charitd,  were  granted  to  the  Reformers  as  places  of  refuge, 


364  THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

under  an  oath  that  after  two  years  they  should  be  restored 
to  the  King. 

Eight  years  had  passed  in  fearful  conflicts,  every  one  of 
which  increased  the  need  of  toleration,  and  the  stability  of 
the  nation  had  been  greatly  shaken  by  it.  The  court,  the 
nobles,  the  people,  were  split  up  into  parties ;  there  was,  as 
it  were,  a  yawning  chasm  between  the  different  parts  of  the 
nation ;  in  some  parts  of  the  country  it  had  become  im- 
possible for  people  of  the  two  creeds  to  live  together,  so 
sharp  had  been  the  controversy,  and  so  irreconcilably  were 
men's  minds  divided.  As  may  be  imagined,  France  suffered 
severely  from  this;  the  great  monarchy  which  had  interposed 
with  so  much  effect  in  European  affairs,  under  Henry  II., 
was  sadly  lamed.  The  kingdom  was  rent  wide  as  the  poles 
asunder.  Edicts  of  toleration  were  issued  in  its  name  and 
violated,  peace  proclaimed  and  broken,  cruelty  practised 
and  revenged. 

All  this  could  not  fail  to  have  a  fearfully  demoralising 
effect  upon  the  mind  of  the  nation ;  and,  above  all,  on  the 
character  of  a  prince  who  had  grown  up  from  boyhood  to 
youth  amid  such  scenes,  not  gifted  with  talent  or  self- 
control,  and  but  a  plaything  between  his  mother,  the 
Guises,  and  the  Huguenot  leaders. 

Charles  IX.,  loaded  with  the  curse  of  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  was  afterwards  regarded  in  France  as  the 
type  of  a  degenerate  king  ;  and  in  the  ninth  decade  of  the 
last  century,  when  the  storm  raged  against  monarchy,  this 
inhuman  prince  was  often  alluded  to,  who  himself  fired  at 
his  fugitive  subjects.  Yet  this  picture  is  not  precisely  true. 

This  youth,  now  twenty  years  of  age,  was  more  to  be 
pitied  than  blamed.  It  was  a  most  tragic  bit  of  human  life 
which  was  played  out  within  narrow  limits,  but  he  cannot 
be  made  alone  or  even  chiefly  responsible  for  it.  Weakly 
from  childhood,  so  brought  up  by  his  mother  that  he  could 
never  be  independent,  his  mental  growth  was  stunted — he 
grew  up  more  coarse,  uncultivated,  and  ignorant  than  any 
nobleman's  son  of  his  time.  At  this  most  critical  period  he 
received  not  the  slightest  training  for  his  calling.  He  was 
addicted  to  childish  sports,  sat  in  the  workshop  and  made 
locks,  and  these  trivial  tastes  were  purposely  fostered  by 
his  mother,  for  a  youth  whose  time  was  thus  spent  was  not 
likely  to  be  dangerous  to  her. 

He   had  never   had   any   more  lofty  aspirations.     The 


CHARACTER  OF  CHARLES  IX.  365 

healthy  influence  of  a  happy  family  life  was  wanting  to  him  ; 
there  was  not  a  single  being  about  him  who  could  raise  him 
morally ;  the  merry  games  of  real  childhood  or  the  pleasures 
of  learning  in  advancing  youth  were  unknown  to  him  ;  he 
had  not  even  the  salutary  influence  of  knowledge  of  some 
one  subject,  which  would  at  any  rate  have  occupied  his 
mind. 

With  all  this,  combined  with  a  sickly  body  totally  desti- 
tute of  youthful  vigour,  he  was  not  likely  to  feel  any  im- 
pulse to  break  these  contemptible  fetters  and  begin  an 
independent  life.  He  readily  allowed  himself  to  be  seduced 
into  excesses  purposely  placed  in  his  way,  in  order  that  his 
remaining  energies  might  be  quenched ;  he  allowed  himself 
to  be  persuaded  into  one  act  to-day,  another  to-morrow; 
there  was  no  one  about  him  calculated  to  give  him  confi- 
dence in  himself  or  others. 

And  it  was  upon  this  individual  that  enormous  respon- 
sibility was  thrown,  in  a  situation  of  which  a  superior 
character  would  have  found  it  difficult  to  solve  the  compli- 
cations. He  who  takes  all  this  into  account  will  not  be 
surprised  at  the  result,  and  will  be  disposed  to  agree  in  my 
lenient  estimate  of  his  guilt. 

The  view  which  stamps  him  as  a  hardened  wretch,  and 
makes  it  appear  that  he  himself  instigated  the  horrid  deed, 
is  psychologically  exaggerated.  So  weak  a  creature  could 
not  have  been  so  early  and  so  deeply  debased.  It  is  im- 
possible to  imagine  him  harbouring  a  consuming  hatred  for 
years,  or  possessing  the  unfathomable  cunning  and  hypo- 
crisy which  circumvented  the  enemy  till  the  day  of  reckon- 
ing came.  This  presupposes  a  degree  of  mental  power 
which  he  did  not  possess ;  we  _know  him  only  as  a  vacil- 
lating weakling. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE   MASSACRE   OF   ST.    BARTHOLOMEW. 

Coligny  at  Court,  and  the  War  with  Spain,  September,  1571 — July, 
1572. — The  Massacre,  24th  August,  1572,  and  the  Fourth  Reli- 
gious War,  1572-3. — End  of  Charles  IX.,  3<Dth  May,  1574. 

COLIGNY  AT  COURT,  AND  THE  WAR  WITH  SPAIN. 

A  FTER  the  Peace  of  1570,  it  appeared  as  if  a  complete 
*X  change  of  policy  was  about  to  take  place.  The 
Queen  pretended  to  be  friendly  with  the  Protestants ;  her 
relations  with  the  ambitious  Guises  were  distant  and  cold, 
and  the  project  of  uniting  the  houses  of  Bourbon  and 
Valois  by  marriage  really  looked  as  if  she  was  in  earnest. 

The  most  distinguished  leader  of  the  Huguenot  party 
was  the  Admiral  Caspar  de  Coligny.  It  is  quite  refreshing 
at  this  doleful  period  to  meet  with  such  a  character.  He 
was  a  nobleman  of  the  old  French  school  and  of  the  best 
stamp ;  lived  upon  his  estates  with  his  family,  his  little 
court,  his  retainers  and  subjects,  in  ancient  patriarchal  style, 
and  on  the  best  terms,  and  regularly  went  with  them  to 
the  Protestant  worship  and  the  communion  ;  a  man  of 
unblemished  morality  and  strict  Calvinistic  views  of  life. 
Whatever  this  man  said  or  did  was  the  result  of  his  inmost 
convictions ;  his  life  was  the  impersonation  of  his  views  and 
thoughts.  In  the  late  turbulent  times  he  had  become  an 
important  person  as  leader  and  organizer  of  the  Protestant 
armies.  At  his  call,  thousands  of  noblemen  and  soldiers 
took  up  arms,  and  they  submitted  under  his  command  to 
very  strict  discipline.  He  could  not  boast  of  having  won 
many  battles,  but  he  was  famous  for  having  kept  his  re- 
sources together  after  repeated  defeats,  and  for  rising  up 
stronger  than  before  after  every  lost  engagement. 

At  the  same  time,  he  was  not  too  much  of  a  Huguenot 


COLIGNY.  367 

to  regard  as  supreme  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country,  as  a 
Frenchman  and  a  nobleman.  When,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  his  party  looked  round  for  foreign  aid,  and  pro- 
posed to  apply  to  the  German  Protestant  princes  for 
succour,  he  replied,  "  Let  us  regard  them  as  mediators,  but 
not  take  any  troops  from  them.  Let  us  rather  die  than 
merit  the  reproach  that  the  Huguenots  were  the  first  to 
bring  foreign  troops  on  to  French  soil."  He  always  kept  in 
view  that  both  parties,  when  they  had  attained  their  rights, 
should  submit  to  an  honourable  peace  and  feel  themselves 
to  be  Frenchmen.  Now  that  peace  was  made,  "  why/'  he 
asked,  "  excite  further  dissensions  for  the  benefit  of  our 
common  enemies?  Let  us  direct  our  undivided  forces 
against  the  real  enemy  of  France — against  Spain,  who  stirs 
up  intrigues  in  our  civil  wars.  Let  us  crush  this  power,  which 
condemns  us  to  ignominious  dependence." 

The  war  against  Spain  was  Coligny's  project.  It  was 
the  idea  of  a  good  Huguenot,  for  it  was  directed  against  the 
most  blindly  fanatical  and  dangerous  foe  of  the  new 
doctrines ;  but  it  was  also  that  of  a  good  Frenchman,  for  a 
victory  over  Spain  would  increase  the  power  of  France  in 
the  direction  of  Burgundy,  and  would  round  it  off  in  the 
most  advantageous  manner  on  the  eastern  side  from 
Besancon  to  Ostend.  This  was  the  germ  of  the  subse- 
quent policy  of  Louis  XIV. 

From  September,  1571,  Coligny  was  at  court.  On  his 
first  arrival  he  was  heartily  welcomed  by  the  King,  em- 
braced by  Catharine,  and  loaded  with  honours  and  favours 
by  both.  I  am  not  of  opinion  that  this  was  a  deeply  laid 
scheme  to  entrap  the  guileless  hero,  the  more  easily  to  ruin 
him.  Catharine's  ideas  did  not  extend  so  far.  Still  less  do 
I  believe  that  the  young  King  was  trained  to  play  the  part 
of  a  hypocrite,  arid  regarded  Coligny  as  a  victim  to  be 
cherished  until  the  fete  day.  I  think,  rather,  that  Catharine, 
in  her  changeableness  and  hatred  of  the  Guises,  was  now 
really  disposed  to  make  peace  with  the  Protestants,  and  that 
the  young  King  was  for  the  time  impressed  by  this  superior 
personage. 

No  youthful  mind  is  so  degraded  as  to  be  entirely  inac- 
cessible to  such  influence.  A  man  commanding  the  respect 
due  to  age,  but  still  in  the  vigour  of  life,  with  great  moral 
dignity,  yet  true  French  bonhomie,  could  not  fail  to  make 
an  irresistible  impression  upon  youth. 


368  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  Charles  IX.  was  under  this  impres- 
sion. I  believe  that  the  first  and  only  happy  day  in  the 
life  of  this  unfortunate  monarch  was  when  he  met  Coligny, 
who  raised  him  above  the  degradation  of  vulgar  life ;  and  I 
believe  further,  that  this  relation  was  the  main  cause  of  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  A  new  influence  was 
threatening  to  surround  the  King  and  to  take  deep  root, 
which  Catharine,  her  son  Henry  of  Anjou,  and  the  strict 
Catholic  party,  must  do  their  utmost  to  avert ;  and  it  was 
quite  in  accordance  with  the  King's  weak  character  to  allow 
the  man  to  be  murdered  whom  he  had  just  called  "  Father."  * 

Although  we  have  but  little  light  on  the  details  of  this 
catastrophe,  we  have  sufficient  information  to  form  an 
opinion  of  the  causes  which  led  to  it. 

Since  peace  had  been  made,  Coligny  thought  no  more  of 
a  war  of  extermination  between  Catholics  and  Protestants, 
but — and  in  this  he  was  considering  the  natural  interests  of 
the  policy  of  France — of  a  national  war,  in  which  both 
parties  should  unite  their  forces  against  Spain. 

This  did  not  exclude,  but  rather  made  necessary,  the 
support  of  foreign  Protestants,  of  the  Netherlands,  the 
alliance  with  England,  and  the  Protestant  powers  of  Ger- 
many. In  this  he  betrayed  the  Huguenot ;  still,  it  was  not 
the  only  reason  for  his  policy.  In  a  struggle  with  Spain,  it 
was  not  only  liberty  of  conscience  in  and  out  of  France 
that  was  at  stake,  the  object  also  was  to  throw  off  an 
oppressive  foreign  yoke,  and  to  get  possession  of  the  fine 
border  country,  which  was  afterwards  the  most  valuable 
conquest  of  Louis  XIV.  The  possession  of  the  chain  of 
fortresses  from  Luxemburg  to  Dunkirk  was  afterwards  the 
chief  aim  of  the  foreign  policy  of  France.  It  did  not  arise 
alone  from  blind  hatred  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  it  was 
a  continuance  of  the  path  which  Francis  I.  had  opened  up, 
and  Henry  II.  had  followed  farther,  and  the  moment  had 
never  been  so  favourable  as  now.  Richelieu  himself  after- 
wards only  imitated  Coligny,  but  coldly  and  selfishly, — he 
was  destitute  of  his  enthusiasm. 

Was  it  incredible  that  Charles  IX.  should  be  inspired 
with  it  ? 

*  These  and  the  following  views  of  these  events  entirely  agree  with 
the  confessions  of  Henry  of  Anjou  himself.  See  Soldan,  II.,  and  com- 
pare the  essay  on  "  Frankreich  und  die  Bartholomausnacht,"  in 
Raumer's  Hist.  Taschenbuch.  1854. 


WAR  WITH   SPAIN.  369 

What  was  uttered  by  Coligny  in  tones  of  the  deepest 
conviction,  reminded  the  prince,  for  the  first  time,  of  the 
treatment  he  had  received,  and  of  the  unworthy  position  he 
had  held  with  respect  to  the  Spanish  policy  and  its  agents, 
his  mother  and  the  Guises.  He  was  just  at  the  age  when 
the  royal  blood  could  not  fail  to  stir  in  him,  and  we  know 
that  just  about  this  time,  to  the  horror  of  his  mother  and 
brother,  he  repeatedly  broke  out  into  rash  expressions. 

During  the  first  half  of  1572  this  turn  of  affairs  was 
taking  place. 

Alba's  system  was  on  the  decline;  he  had  just  adopted 
his  final  desperate  measures,  the  stupid  tax  of  the  one 
hundredth,  twentieth,  and  tenth  pennies  ;  an  indescribable 
fury  raged  in  the  country,  which  might  at  any  moment 
come  to  an  outbreak,  and  the  troops  of  Louis  of  Nassau 
and  William  of  Orange  had  begun  their  operations.  The 
situation,  therefore,  was  favourable.  If  the  Spanish  power 
were  to  be  lamed,  no  better  opportunity  could  be  expected. 

It  appears  that  about  the  middle  of  the  year,  the  matter 
was  as  good  as  decided.  The  King  willingly  acceded  to 
Coligny's  plan.  While  the  doubtful  attitude  of  England, 
and  the  divided  opinion  of  the  Council,  prevented  any 
open  interference,  the  King  privately  gave  considerable 
sums  for  the  support  of  the  Flemish  patriots,  for  the  equip- 
ment of  an  army  of  four  thousand  men,  composed  of 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  who  marched  towards  Mons,  to 
succour  Louis  of  Nassau.  When  in  July  this  army  was 
beaten,  and  the  majority  of  the  Huguenots  were  in  despair, 
Coligny  succeeded  in  persuading  the  King  to  equip  a  fresh 
and  still  larger  army;  but  the  opposition  then  bestirred 
itself. 

THE  MASSACRE  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW,  AUGUST  24™, 


The  strict  Catholic  party  had  watched  this  turn  of  affairs 
with  growing  ill-will  ;  they  dreaded  enmity  with  Spain,  as 
the  best  ally  of  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  rejected  all  idea 
of  peace  and  reconciliation  with  the  heretics,  the  fatal  foes 
of  the  good  cause.  The  Guises  found  every  government 
which  thrust  them  on  one  side  unsupportable. 

The  Queen  was  by  no  means  enthusiastically  in  favour 
of  Spain,  whose  commanding  influence  she  often  found 
oppressive;  but  to  venture  on  a  war  with  her  was  quite 

B  B 


370  THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

another  thing,  and  in  questions  which  concerned  her 
dominion  over  the  King,  everything  else  was  disregarded. 

She  had  been  absent  with  her  married  daughter  in  Lor- 
raine, and  on  her  return  she  found  everything  changed;  the 
Guises  without  influence,  herself  thrust  on  one  side. 

Under  the  impression  of  the  latest  events  in  Flanders, 
which  made  it  likely  that  the  war  with  Spain  would  be 
ruinous,  she  hastened  to  the  King,  told  him  with  floods  of 
tears  that  it  would  be  his  ruin ;  that  the  Huguenots,  through 
Coligny,  had  stolen  the  King's  confidence,  unfortunately 
for  himself  and  the  country.  She  made  some  impression 
upon  him,  but  it  did  not  last  long,  and  thoughts  of  war 
gained  the  upper  hand  again. 

The  idea  now  (August,  1572)  must  have  been  matured  in 
Catharine's  mind  of  venturing  on  a  desperate  step,  in  order 
to  save  her  supremacy  and  influence,  for  this  consideration 
was  always  uppermost  with  her. 

She  had  trifled  with  the  friendship  of  the  Huguenots,  and 
now  they  had  outwitted  her ;  her  power  over  the  King,  the 
fruit  of  the  toil  of  a  life-time,  had  slipped  through  her 
fingers,  and  through  the  Huguenots,  whom  she  had  dreaded 
least  of  all.  She  had  never  liked  them,  had  never  forgotten 
that  they  had  formerly  been  inimical  to  her ;  all  her  fierce 
old  hatred  was  stirred  up  when  she  saw  her  position 
threatened  by  these  heretics. 

She  was  a  Medici;  had  passed  a  melancholy,  joyless 
youth  ;  had  been  brought  as  a  stranger  to  the  Court ;  had 
been  neglected  by  her  husband,  and  thrust  on  one  side 
under  her  eldest  son.  After  a  long  course  of  humiliation, 
she  had  at  length  attained  the  authority  she  desired,  as  the 
adviser  of  her  second  son,  and  now  it  appeared  that  she 
had  only  brought  him  up  for  the  Calvinists,  and  had  really 
been  working  for  them.  This  was  too  much  for  a  Medici. 

As  to  ways  and  means  in  such  a  situation,  she  shared 
the  views  of  her  nation.  The  passionate  Italians  are  dis- 
posed to  choose  the  shortest  and  most  sanguinary  methods. 
Political  assassination  has  always  been  judged  more  le- 
niently by  them  than  by  other  nations  ;  unhappily,  political 
complications,  combined  with  the  hasty  temperament  of  the 
people,  have  often  caused  them  to  resort  to  poison  or  the 
dagger,  while  the  northerners  are  still  debating.  In  the  six- 
teenth century  this  sort  of  political  morality  was  in  full  bloom, 
had  been  theoretically  developed  by  Machiavelli  with  artless 


THE  MASSACRE  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW.   371 

objectivity,  and,  as  a  passionate  woman,  Catharine  was 
doubly  disposed  to  resort  to  such  means. 

The  idea  ripened  in  her  mind  of  getting  rid  of  Coligny 
by  assassination;  she  was  convinced  that  it  would  serve  her 
purpose,  and  all  other  considerations  were  disregarded. 

Entirely  of  one  mind  with  her  son  Henry,  she  turned  to 
the  Guises,  with  whom  she  was  at  enmity  when  they  were 
in  power,  but  friendly  when  they  were  of  no  more  con- 
sequence than  herself.  They  breathed  vengeance  against 
the  Calvinists,  and  were  ready  at  once  to  avenge  the  murder 
of  Francis  of  Guise  by  a  murderous  attack  upon  Coligny. 

An  assassin  was  hired,  and  established  in  a  house  belong- 
ing to  the  Guises,  near  Coligny's  dwelling,  and  as  he  came 
out  of  the  palace,  on  the  22nd  of  August,  a  shot  was  fired 
at  him,  which  wounded  but  did  not  kill  him. 

Had  Coligny  died  of  this  wound,  Catharine  would  have 
been  content;  her  power  would  have  been  restored,  the 
Huguenots  intimidated  and  deprived  of  their  leader,  the 
game  which  she  played  with  both  parties,  to  render  each 
harmless  by  means  of  the  other,  could  have  begun  again. 
But  Coligny  did  not  die ;  the  Huguenots  defiantly  de- 
manded vengeance  on  the  well-known  instigator  of  the 
deed ;  their  threats  reached  the  Queen  and  Prince  Henry 
of  Anjou,  and  the  personal  fascination  which  Coligny  had 
exercised  over  King  Charles  appeared  rather  to  increase 
than  to  diminish. 

Thus  doubtless  arose,  during  the  anxious  hours  after  the 
failure  of  the  assassination,  the  idea  of  an  act  of  violence  on 
a  large  scale,  which  should  strike  a  blow  at  Coligny  and 
his  friends  before  they  had  time  for  revenge.  It  certainly 
had  not  been  in  preparation  for  months,  not  even  since  the 
time  that  Coligny  had  been  at  Court ;  it  was  conceived  in 
the  agony  of  these  hours.  Not  that  so  diabolical  a  scheme 
was  impossible  in  such  a  circle,  but  Catharine's  character 
was  not  equal  to  it.  In  the  heat  of  passion  she  could 
venture  on  the  most  fearful  deeds,  but  she  had  not  sufficient 
elasticity  to  plan  such  a  scheme  and  to  allow  it  gradually  to 
ripen. 

The  new  faith  had  been  proscribed  in  Paris  from  the 
first — all  the  Edicts  of  toleration  expressly  excepted  it  and 
the  neighbourhood — and  the  inhabitants  cherished  a  growing 
hatred  of  the  Huguenots,  which  it  was  hard  to  restrain 
and  very  easy  to  let  loose.  If  the  King  could  be  persuaded 


372  THE   RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

to  give  the  signal  for  an  attack,  a  horrible  massacre  might 
be  expected. 

But  the  King  was  again  in  Coligny's  hands,  had  seriously 
entered  into  the  investigation  of  the  attempt  upon  his  life, 
dismissed  the  Guises  with  hard  words  from  Court,  sent  a 
guard  of  fifty  men  to  Coligny's  house,  and  had  had  it  pro- 
claimed in  Paris  and  the  provinces  that  every  part  of  the 
religious  Peace  should  be  conscientiously  observed.  On  the 
afternoon  of  the  23rd  of  August  the  Queen  made  a  final 
attempt  with  the  King.  She  told  him  of  a  vast  Huguenot 
conspiracy  against  throne  and  altar,  which,  with  thousands 
of  well-armed  troops,  was  only  awaiting  the  right  moment, 
under  Coligny's  command,  to  attack  him  and  all  his  house  ; 
the  Catholics  were  asleep ;  unless  the  King  roused  himself, 
and  under  a  leader  chosen  by  himself  resisted  the  Huguenots, 
he  would  stand  alone,  and  all  would  be  lost.*  This  down- 
right lie  took  effect ;  orders  were  given  for  the  massacre, 
and  it  was  organized  on  a  large  scale  for  the  following  night. 
A  vast  number  of  the  Huguenots  had  come  to  Paris  for  the 
celebration  of  the  marriage  of  Henry  of  Navarre  with  the 
King's  sister  ;  thousands  had  been  attracted  by  this  peaceful 
and  conciliatory  festival ;  the  plan  was,  at  a  given  signal, 
to  fall  upon  the  sleeping  guests.  The  Guises  sent  for  the 
Prevots  des  Marchands  and  the  superintendents  of  the 
various  quarters,  explained  the  plan  to  them,  and  gave  them 
their  commissions.  To  make  sure  that  none  of  the  more 
important  persons  should  escape,  individuals  were  com- 
missioned to  murder  particular  persons,  and  the  Duke  of 
Guise  took  care  to  undertake  the  murder  of  Coligny.  These 
doings  have  a  horrible  similarity  to  those  of  1792,  when  the 
superintendents  of  the  sections  were  sent  for  to  have  the  plan 
of  the  prison  murders  explained  to  them.  The  murderous 
orders  had  to  be  despatched  to  the  provinces  by  couriers. 

The  horrors  of  the  night  of  the  24th  of  August  took  place 
in  this  way.  At  a  given  signal  the  leaders  left  their  posts, 
collected  their  comrades,  fell  upon  the  Huguenot  quarter, 
and  murdered  the  defenceless  people.  About  2,000  were 

*  According  to  the  confessions  of  Henry  of  Anjou,  the  Queen  only 
wished  for  the  head  of  Coligny  and  those  of  some  of  his  friends,  but 
Charles  IX.  said  in  a  tremendous  rage  that,  if  the  Admiral  must  die, 
not  a  single  Huguenot  should  remain  alive  to  reproach  him  with  the 
deed.  This,  then,  was  the  cause  of  the  massacre,  which  was  not  at 
first  intended  by  Catharine  and  Henry. — Soldan. 


THE  MASSACRE   OF  ST.   BARTHOLOMEW.      373 

met  with,  very  few  of  whom  escaped.  Similar  signals  were 
despatched  to  all  the  larger  places,  and  very  few  of  the 
superintendents  had  the  courage  to  answer  that  they  were 
not  assassins.  There  were  but  isolated  instances  of 
mercy  and  conscience ;  in  general  the  command  was 
carried  out  as  it  was  given,  and  it  throws  a  ghastly  light  on 
the  nation  and  its  rulers.  The  King,  dragged  along  like  a 
powerless  instrument,  took  part  in  these  horrors,  and  wa& 
seized  with  the  horrid  ambition  to  assist  in  the  project  which 
was  not  his  own  invention. 

Blind  revenge  and  passion  are  bad  counsellors.  Not  a 
single  project  of  the  house  of  Valois,  which  thought  it  was 
contending  for  its  Crown,  or  of  the  mother  of  its  last  King, 
whose  whole  soul  was  engrossed  in  ambition,  was  accom- 
plished by  the  deed.  Their  dynasty  was  ruined,  but  the 
Huguenots  were  not  exterminated. 

20,000,  25,000,  even  100,000  victims  are  spoken  of — the 
smallest  number  is  the  most  probable  !  It  was  a  tremendous 
blow  for  the  party.  Most  of  its  leaders  were  cut  offj  the  grey- 
headed Coligny  was  cut  to  pieces ;  but,  though  weaker  by 
20,000  men,  it  was  strong  enough  to  begin  the  war  of 
revenge  again.  A  fierce  hatred  had  been  excited  in  the 
remnants  of  the  party,  which  perhaps  was  of  greater  value 
than  the  loss  they  had  sustained.  Charles  IX.  wrote  on 
26th  of  August  to  his  ambassador  in  the  Netherlands  : — 
"  This  fire  will  extend  to  every  city  of  my  empire,  and  all 
the  followers  of  the  new  religion  will  be  made  harmless." 
This  opinion  also  prevailed  at  Rome  and  Madrid.  The 
Pope  had  a  solemn  Te  Deum  celebrated,  and  Philip  II. 
broke  out  into  a  coarse  triumphal  laugh  at  the  news. 

But  in  almost  every  other  country  of  Europe,  even  in  the 
zealous  Catholic  States,  there  was  but  one  voice  of  horror 
and  condemnation. 

The  Emperor  Maximilian  II.  expressed  the  feeling  of  the 
world  when  he  said  that  it  pained  him  to  reckon  such  a  mur- 
derous crew  among  his  relations,  and  he  was  father-in-law  to 
Charles  IX.  The  Pope  and  Philip  II.,  however,  lauded  it  as 
an  act  well  pleasing  to  God,  and  one  that  did  honour  to  the 
title  of  the  "  Most  Christian  King."  Was  it  probable  that, 
even  among  these  fanatical  assassins,  such  a  monarchy  should 
continue  to  exist  ?  Was  it  possible  that  when  passion  had 
cooled,  and  the  calm  voice  of  the  nation  was  heard  again, 
a  monarchy  would  be  forgiven  whose  name  was  stained  by 


374  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

the  most  bloody  deed  that  ever  disgraced  a  royal  house  ? 
In  the  eyes  of  the  nation,  no  blessing  could  ever  again  rest 
on  it.  Just  as  Catharine  thought  she  had  attained  dominion 
for  ever,  she  was  giving  the  most  fatal  blow  to  her  authority. 

Thus  a  fresh  religious  war  arose.  All  that  were  not 
murdered  of  the  Huguenot  party  took  up  arms.  It  was 
absolutely  necessary  for  them  to  defend  their  rights,  and  it 
became  evident  how  many  remained.  None  of  the  wars 
were  so  feebly  carried  on  by  the  royal  party  as  this  one ;  it 
seemed  as  if  an  evil  conscience  lamed  their  powers. 

Among  the  Catholic  population  itself,  a  party  split  off 
rrom  the  fanatics,  who  were  called,  first  in  jest  and  then  in 
earnest,  "  The  Politicians."  They  condemned  the  war  of 
extermination  against  religious  creeds,  and  demanded  imme- 
diate abolition  of  the  misgovernment  of  the  Court  party, 
which  was  becoming  more  and  more  intolerable.  Political 
opposition  now  assailed  the  helpless  throne  ;  and  if  we  are 
ever  justified  in  thinking  we  see  the  Nemesis  following 
close  upon  a  guilty  act,  we  are  so  in  this  case.  The  murder 
scheme  had  failed  ;  the  Huguenots  were  not  exterminated  ; 
the  Catholic  party  was  split  into  two  camps ;  Catharine 
had  to  share  her  power  with  the  Guises,  and  was  helpless 
between  the  two  parties ;  the  King  felt  the  burden  of  the 
night  of  the  24th  of  August  press  upon  him  more  heavily 
than  any  one  else. 

The  ghosts  of  those  who  had  been  slain  by  his  orders 
were  ever  before  his  eyes ;  he  olten  rose  in  the  night,  and 
rushed  in  despair  through  the  dreary  apartments  of  his 
palace,  followed  by  bleeding  forms  and  confused  voices.  He 
was  not  enough  of  a  villain  to  get  over  it  as  others  would 
have  done ;  he  was  a  weak  child,  who  had  been  persuaded 
to  vile  deeds,  and  was  racked  to  death  by  the  stings  of 
conscience. 

Two  years  after  the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew  his  feeble 
life  came  to  an  end ;  he  pined  away  without  any  particular 
disease,  consumed  by  a  dissolute  life,  and  the  remembrance 
of  an  act  which  he  was  weak  enough  to  permit,  and  not 
strong  enough  to  overcome. 

This  was  a  heavy  blow  to  Catharine ;  her  tool  was  dead, 
the  throne  again  vacant,  and  that  at  a  moment  when  the 
Netherlands  had  risen,  the  Huguenots  were  in  arms,  and 
the  Catholic  party  filled  with  discontent  and  in  process  of 
dissolution. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

HENRY   III.,    1574-89,   AND   THE   LEAGUE. 

Character  of  Henry. — The  Edict  of  May,  1576,  and  the  Holy  League 
of  the  Guises. —  Protracted  Vacillation.  —  Death  of  Francis  of 
Anjou,  June,  1584,  and  Contest  about  the  Succession. — The  War 
of  the  Three  Henrys,  1588-9. — The  Barricades  of  Paris,  May, 
1588.— The  States  at  Blois,  October,  1588,  and  the  Murder  of  the 
Two  Guises,  23rd  and  24th  December,  1588. — Flight  and  Murder 
of  Henry  III.,  August  and,  1589. 

CATHARINE'S  third  son,  Henry  III.,  now  began  to 
V*?  reign.  It  was  said  that  he  was  the  one  most  deeply 
imbued  with  her  ideas,  and  that  he  yielded  the  most  willingly 
to  her  advice.  He  had  spent  his  youth  among  the  Guises, 
adhered  jealously  to  the  strict  Catholic  party — not  from 
religious  sentiments,  but  from  purely  external  motives.  He 
had  dutifully  aided  his  mother  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  he  himself  relates  after 
what  vicissitudes  she  finally  attained  her  end  in  her  attacks 
upon  the  King's  relations  with  Coligny,  and  with  what 
anxious  suspense  she  listened  for  the  murderous  signal  of 
the  alarm  bell  on  the  night  of  the  24th  of  August. 

At  this  junctuie  a  prospect  had  opened  of  providing  for 
Henry,  whom  it  was  not  easy  to  keep  in  France,  by  means 
of  his  election  to  the  throne  of  Poland.  By  dint  of  great 
pecuniary  sacrifices  he  had  been  elected  King,  and  Poland 
thought  the  French  kingdom  would  aid  Polish  weakness. 
Just  as  he  ascended  the  throne,  news  came  of  his  brother's 
death,  and  Henry  laid  aside  the  crown — did  not  even  abdi- 
cate, but  simply  deserted  the  Polish  throne  in  order  to  ascend 
the  French  one.  In  spite  of  his  slender  build  and  love  of 
sensual  pleasures,  he  was  more  vigorous  than  either  of  his 
brothers,  produced  more  the  impression  of  a  French  noble 


THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

than  his  predecessor,  and  was  believed  to  have  more  mental 
power.  He  was  certainly  more  deeply  initiated  into  his 
mother's  political  morality.  What  in  Charles  IX.  was  con- 
temptible weakness,  was  in  him  voluntary  co-operation  ; 
what  in  the  one  case  was  extorted  by  lies  and  intimidation 
from  a  demoralised  nature,  was  in  the  other  the  acquiescence 
of  detestable  frivolity  which  agreed  to  anything  and  shrunk 
from  nothing.  Still,  there  was  nothing  manly  in  this  person- 
age ;  though  more  gifted  than  his  brothers,  and  not  so  easily 
treated  as  a  minor,  there  was  nothing  of  the  King  about  him, 
and  he  was  even  more  repulsive  than  they  were. 

The  horrible  corruption  of  Charles's  Court,  its  foolery  and 
frivolity,  had  no  better  representative  than  Henry  of  Anjou. 
He  had  gone  through  frightful  excesses ;  his  youth  had  no- 
thing to  show  but  dissolute  feats,  or  even  crimes.  It  is 
related  of  him  that  he  went  through  the  streets  as  a  Merry- 
Andrew,  or  with  wild  beasts  like  a  bear-leader,  attired  in 
such  a  fashion  that  his  sex  was  indistinguishable  ;  or  broke 
into  the  houses  of  the  peaceful  citizens  by  night  with  a  crew 
of  dissolute  companions.  Neither  was  he  wanting  in  the 
bigotry  of  which  this  Court  could  boast.  One  day  he  might 
be  seen  with  the  notorious  "mignons,"  or  seizing  the  wives 
and  daughters  of  Parisian  husbands  and  citizens ;  the  next  he 
went  to  church,  joined  in  masses  and  processions  to  atone 
for  the  horrors  of  the  previous  night.  As  to  honour,  faith, 
honesty,  and  loyalty,  he  was  truly  worthy  of  his  mother. 

This  was  the  Valois  upon  whose  shoulders  the  burden 
was  laid  of  healing  the  woes  of  a  distracted  country. 

The  religious  contest  was  not  adjusted ;  the  Huguenots 
were  deeply  embittered  ;  new  leaders  were  at  the  head ;  the 
land  groaned  under  misgovernment,  which  was  worse  than 
ever ;  the  treasury  was  empty ;  there  was  no  money  to  pay 
the  officials,  the  troops,  or  the  household  ;  discontent  was 
increasing  among  all  classes ;  and  there  was  a  party  of 
eminent  men  who  were  clamouring  for  political  reforms. 

And  now  the  dangers  of  the  situation  were  incorporated 
in  an  ominous  League  between  the  Huguenots  and  the 
Catholic  politicians.  Both  renounced  the  idea  of  a  unity 
of  faith  for  all  France  ;  gave  up  the  endless  civil  wars,  and 
wished  for  peace  on  the  principle  of  reciprocal  toleration, 
and  directed  their  forces  against  the  Crown  with  a  united 
demand  for  reforms,  abolition  of  the  great  abuses,  and  con- 
vocation of  the  States  of  the  empire. 


HENRY  III.  377 

In  the  presence  qf  these  complications,  Henry  III.  had 
not  the  power,  was  too  insignificant  to  go  to  work  like  a 
King,  to  put  an  end  to  factions  by  reigning  supreme  above 
them.  He  chose  the  dishonourable  path  of  fostering  intrigues, 
and  for  years  played  a  deceitful  game;  but  so  clumsily, 
that  the  commonest  understanding  could  see  through  it. 

In  May,  1576,  he  made  peace  with  the  politicians  and 
Huguenots,  revoked  the  policy  of  the  massacre,  put  an  end 
to  the  legal  disabilities  of  its  victims,  granted  the  heretics, 
with  the  exception  of  Paris,  unlimited  religious  liberty, 
equality  in  filling  offices  and  dignities  in  every  Parliament ; 
a  chamber  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  Catholics  and 
Protestants,  and  eight  fortresses,  as  a  pledge  that  the  treaty 
should  be  observed. 

The  Catholics  did  not  fail  to  strike  a  counter-blow  to  this 
edict.  With  the  help  of  Spain,  Henry  of  Guise  collected 
together  all  those  who  held  to  the  preservation  of  the  unity 
of  the  faith,  at  any  price  and  by  any  means,  in  an  alliance 
called  the  Holy  League ;  it  was  formed  in  1576,  and  found 
considerable  support  in  the  meeting  of  the  States  at  Blois, 
in  December  of  that  year.  Resistance  to  the  utmost  to  the 
Huguenots,  and  to  all  who  should  join  themselves  to  them, 
was  the  programme  of  this  League. 

At  Blois,  the  King  showed  that  he  was  not  in  earnest  with 
his  concessions  to  the  Huguenots.  The  Holy  League  had 
not  long  been  formed  when  the  King  joined  it,  and  recalled 
all  that  he  had  previously  granted.  It  came  to  a  religious 
war.  Royalty  and  the  opposing  parties  once  more  met  upon 
the  battle-field,  the  former  to  play  the  forlorn  part  of  being 
watched  by  the  Catholics  as  partly,  and  by  the  Protestants 
as  altogether,  a  traitor.  This  war  confirmed  what  had  been 
granted  to  the  Huguenots  in  1576;  but  the  seventh  war, 
which  quickly  followed,  deprived  them  of  it  again  until  the 
Edict  of  toleration  was  renewed  at  the  Peace  of  Fleix. 
Things  could  not  go  on  as  they  were ;  royalty  sunk  deeper 
every  day  in  the  estimation  of  all  parties  ;  alarming  political 
projects  were  stirring,  when  in  June,  1584,  another  death 
took  place  which  hastened  the  crisis. 

This  was  the  death  of  the  fourth  son  of  Henry  II.  and 
Catharine,  Francis  of  Alencon,  who,  after  the  accession  of 
Henry  III.,  had  received  the  title  of  Duke  of  Anjou,  and 
had  been  looked  upon  as  Henry's  successor.  He  had 
allowed  himself  to  be  made  a  tool  of  by  all  parties ;  had  at 


378  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

length  appeared  as  a  Pretender  in  the  jsouth  of  the  Nether- 
lands ;  had  tried  all  sorts  of  schemes  in  order  to  cut  a 
figure,  but  he  had  not  talent  enough  for  it.  On  the  loth  of 
June,  1 584,  he  died,  and  it  was  in  fact  the  most  important 
thing  he  had  ever  done. 

He  was  the  last  of  the  Valois,  and  the  Bourbons  were 
now  thought  of  as  successors.  The  representative  of  the 
claims  of  this  house  was  Henry,  King  of  Navarre,  who, 
compelled  on  the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew  to  abjure  his 
faith,  had  afterwards  escaped  and  placed  himself -at  the 
head  of  his  old  party. 

Spain  and  Rome  laboured  against  his  right  of  succession, 
against  the  elevation  of  the  heretical  Bourbons ;  and  just 
as  they  were  beginning  to  look  round  for  a  Catholic 
dynasty  in  France,  the  well-known  work,  "  Stemmata,"  ap- 
peared in  Lorraine,  in  which  it  was  shown  that  the  Guises 
were  descended  from  the  Carlovingians,  and  were  thus 
the  legitimate  house ;  while  the  French  kings  were  all 
usurpers.  They  forgot  in  their  zeal  that  the  Carlovingians 
themselves  were  arrant  usurpers,  and  that  they  should 
have  gone  back  to  the  Merovingians.  An  eighth  religious 
war  then  began  about  the  throne,  which  has  been  called 
the  War  of  the  Three  Henrys.  From  the  end  of  1585  there 
was  a  melancholy  campaign,  the  issue  of  which  neither 
party  could  foresee,  and  in  which  the  King  and  his  mother 
played  a  most  pitiful  part.  The  King  at  first  sought  to 
maintain  a  position  in  the  camp  of  the  League,  but  vanished 
before  Henry  of  Guise.  He  then  tried  to  take  an  indepen- 
dent course ;  but  every  attempt  led  to  more  painful  and 
ignominious  defeats,  until  nothing  availed  but  assassination, 
which  overthrew  the  kingdom  of  the  last  of  the  Valois. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  with  the  masses  who  was  the 
lawful  King,  the  wretched  Henry  III.  or  the  powerful  Duke 
of  Guise.  It  required  a  persistent  idea  of  legitimacy  to 
remain  loyal  to  one  about  whom  everything  was  despicable 
except  his  legal  right  to  the  throne.  Henry  of  Guise  could 
not  be  looked  upon  as  other  than  a  usurper,  but  he 
displayed  unquestionable  superiority  in  playing  his  part. 
He  was  not  the  great  general  which  his  father  was  con- 
sidered to  be,  but  in  chivalrous  personal  bravery  he  equalled 
if  he  did  not  excel  him.  Then  he  was  handsome,  eloquent, 
winning,  exercised  quite  a  fascination  over  the  masses,  was 
without  the  weakness  for  women  of  Henry  III.,  was  distin- 


WARS   OF   THE  THREE   HENRYS.  379 

guished  in  all  manly  exercises,  was  the  best  rider,  fencer, 
swimmer  in  France,  and  was  blameless  in  faithfulness 
to  his  convictions.  The  party  which  he  led  was  in  great 
measure  the  creation  of  his  family ;  it  was  a  party  which 
knew  no  capitulation  ;  he  stood  or  fell  with  it.  However 
worthless  its  programme  may  be  considered,  it  must  be 
granted  that  the  Guises  stood  by  it  firmly,  while  the  King 
and  his  mother,  broken  reeds  as  they  were,  inclined  now  to 
this  side  and  now  to  the  other. 

At  Rome  and  Madrid  they  were  already  designating  the 
hero  of  the  League  as  the  legal  Catholic  King,  and  the 
book  called  the  "  Stemmata  "  was  intended  to  mislead  the 
legitimist  conscience  of  the  people.  The  pitiful  bearing  of 
the  King  towards  the  Duke  of  Guise  was  as  if  designed  to 
make  the  Pretender  popular,  and  to  complete  the  bank- 
ruptcy of  the  lawful  crown.  The  French  sources  relate 
with  a  certain  humour  the  King's  attempt  in  1588  to  rid 
himself  of  his  inconvenient  Mayor  of  the  Palace,  and  how 
it  ended  in  preparing  a  complete  triumph  for  the  latter. 

Guise  had  entered  Paris  with  several  hundred  knights,  in 
order,  as  he  said,  to  justify  himself  to  the  King  against 
false  accusations,  but  in  truth  to  wring  from  him  entire 
submission  to  the  commands  of  the  League.  The  people 
had  received  the  Pretender  with  immense  rejoicings,  and 
the  King  was  so  enraged,  that  for  a  moment  he  thought  of 
having  him  assassinated.  To  defend  himself,  he  caused  a 
troop  of  6,000  men  to  enter  the  city,  who  would,  properly 
made  use  of,  have  been  quite  sufficient  to  put  down  the 
Duke  and  all  his  followers ;  but  the  organization  was  so  bad, 
that  Guise  succeeded,  under  the  eyes  of  the  King's  soldiers, 
who  stood  like  "  iron  pillars,"  in  inciting  the  masses  to  rise 
and  construct  barricades,  which  put  all  Paris  into  his  power, 
and  compelled  the  King  to  fly.  The  Duke  took  possession 
of  the  city,  the  people  did  homage  to  him  as  their  Lord, 
the  wretched  King  entered  into  negotiations,  and  in  July 
signed  a  programme  which  really  made  the  Duke  regent 
and  supreme  ruler,  and  reduced  the  King  to  a  mere  puppet. 

Henry  could  not  forget  this,  and  resolved  to  get  rid  of 
the  Duke  by  a  secure  method. 

In  October,  1588,  the  States  were  convoked  at  Blois,  and 
it  had  to  be  shown  who  was  master,  the  King  or  the  Duke. 
Henry  III.  experienced  one  disappointment  after  another. 
Even  in  the  opening  speech,  he  had  to  listen  to  a  coarse 


380  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

attack  on  the  ambition  of  the  great,  and  then  to  confirm  by 
oath  the  programme  of  the  League. 

But  the  spirit  by  which  a  large  portion  of  the  assembly 
was  animated,  indicated  a  new  and  tremendous  danger,  of 
which  the  King  had  no  idea.  Ideas  of  reform  in  the  empire 
were  expressed,  as  bold  and  radical  as  those  of  1789  ;  even 
more  so,  for  they  did  not  adhere  to  the  one  point  to  which 
all  parties  adhered  then — the  entire  unity  of  the  State — but 
suggested  projects  of  decentralisation,  with  privileges  for  the 
nobles,  the  States  and  the  provinces,  which  did  not  at  all 
comport  with  the  great  work  of  the  house  of  Valois.  A 
monarchy  limited  by  a  standing  committee  of  the  States 
was  proposed,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  preached,  which,  in  spite  of  its  ecclesiastical  dress, 
was  as  revolutionary  as  possible.  All  the  King's  legal 
power  is  granted  him  by  the  States ;  if  he  surpasses  it,  it 
reverts  to  the  States ;  questions  of  war,  peace,  taxes,  &c., 
cannot  be  decided  without  them,  &c.  If  we  consider  also 
the  revolutionary  organization  of  the  city  of  Paris,  divided 
into  districts  exactly  as  in  1792,  governed  by  secret  leaders 
which  had  already,  on  the  day  of  the  barricades,  the  i2th  of 
May,  made  itself  a  fearful  lever  of  democratic  agitation,  the 
similarity  between  this  state  of  things  and  that  of  the  great 
Revolution  becomes  very  striking,  and  the  distinction  dis- 
appears that  on  the  one  occasion  these  things  were 
demanded  in  the  name  of  the  Catholic  Church,  on  the  other 
were  based  upon  the  rights  of  man.  This  was  the  alarming 
situation  in  which  Henry  III.  found  himself  when,  as  he 
saw  no  other  mode  of  escape,  he  formed  the  desperate  reso- 
lution of  murdering  the  captains  of  the  League,  after  he  had 
tried  in  vain  to  conquer  the  n. 

The  King  had  already  discussed  the  plan  of  the  murder 
with  the  most  confidential  members  of  his  body  guard,  when 
Henry  of  Guise  still  felt  quite  secure,  although  he  had  been 
repeatedly  warned.  "  He  will  not  venture  on  it,"  he  said, 
like  Danton  in  a  similar  situation.  He  did  not  give  the 
prince,  whose  insignificance  no  one  knew  better  than  himself, 
credit  for  power  to  carry  out  so  heroic  a  plan.  When,  on 
the  morning  of  the  23rd  of  December,  1588,  he  was  going 
to  the  King,  he  was  struck  down  in  the  same  apartments 
where,  sixteen  years  before,  he  had  initiated  the  massacre. 
His  brother  Charles  shared  the  same  fate,  and  many  of 
the  most  influential  leaders  of  the  party  were  imprisoned. 


MURDER   OF   HENRY   III.  381 

The  King  thought  that  with  the  leaders  he  had  destroyed 
the  party  itself:  this  was  a  mistake.  Civil  war  raged  almost 
all  over  France,  and  in  Paris  there  was  complete  anarchy. 
The  Ligue  des  Seize — so  the  chief  lodge  of  a  number  of  clubs 
spread  over  France  was  called — seized  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment, put  its  creatures  into  every  post,  turned  out  all  who 
opposed  them,  and  tried  the  King  by  Parliament. 

Helpless  and  forsaken,  the  King  now  fled  to  the  camp  of 
the  Huguenots,  sought  protection  from  those  whom  he  had 
been  most  consistent  in  opposing,  and  among  whom  there 
were  many  who  hated  him  as  the  murderer  of  their  nearest 
relations.  Henry  of  Navarre  suppressed  all  these  feelings — 
a  great  proof  of  his  power  over  the  army.  The  King  was 
greeted  as  a  King.  At  the  same  time  it  was  a  perpetual 
embarrassment  to  the  Huguenots  to  have  this  empty-headed, 
weak-minded  creature  in  their  camp.  The  fanaticism  of  the 
party  of  the  Guises  delivered  them  from  it.  One  of  the 
priests,  who  had  daily  heard  it  preached  at  Paris  that  it  was 
meritorious  to  murder  a  tyrant — a  Dominican,  Jacob 
Clement — entered  the  camp  and  gave  the  King  a  fatal  stab. 
A  few  hours  after,  Henry  III.  was  a  corpse,  2nd  of  August, 
1589.  The  murder  of  the  King,  which  had  long  been 
preached,  was  now  put  in  practice.  The  new  political 
doctrine  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  Council  of  Trent  had  passed 
through  every  stage,  from  producing  mere  demagogues  and 
rebellion  up  to  regicide ;  people  knew  now  what  might  be 
expected  from  it. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

HENRY     IV.,      1589-1610. 

Character  of  Henry  IV. — His  Struggle  for  the  Crown,  1789-93. — 
Dissolution  of  the  Opposing  Patty. — Charles  of  Mayenne,  the 
Parisian  Demagogues,  Plans  of  Philip  II. — Henry's  Conversion  to 
Catholicism ;  Motives  for  and  Consequences  of  this  Step. — 
Henry's  Administration,  1594-1610.  —  Peace  of  Vervins,  May, 
1598. — Edict  of  Nantes,  1598. —  Sully's  Administration.— Plan  of 
a  Great  Protestant  Alliance  against  Spanish  Hapsburg. — Henry's 
Murder,  by  Ravaillac,  May  I4th,  1610. 

CHARACTER  OF  HENRY  IV. 

ANEW  era  now  begins  for  France.  According  to  law 
and  usage,  Henry  of  Navarre  was  undoubtedly  king. 
The  Bourbons  were  descended  from  the  younger,  the  last  of 
the  Capets  and  the  Valois  from  the  elder  sons  of  St.  Louis  ; 
but  the  step  from  legal  to  acknowledged  and  actual 
possession  was  a  long  and  difficult  one. 

Henry  found  confusion,  dissolution,  and  civil  war  every- 
where. At  first  he  only  possessed  the  smaller  portion  of  his 
kingdom.  His  inheritance,  Protestant  Beam,  stood  by  him, 
as  did  also  the  Huguenot  naval  fortress  of  La  Rochelle,  the 
Cevennes,  the  faithful  nobles  in  Dauphine',  Poitou,  Saintonge, 
and  the  scattered  Protestant  communities  in  the  south  of 
France,  and  subsidies  were  granted  him  by  the  German 
Protestant  princes.  The  country  whose  lawful  ruler  he  was 
had  to  a  great  extent  to  be  conquered,  and  when  conquered 
would  have  to  submit  to  an  entirely  new  order  of  things, 
which  would  control  disorder  and  license,  and  restore  law 
and  order. 

Henry  IV.  was  the  child  of  this  wild  period  of  civil  war, 
had  grown  up  to  manhood  in  camp,  and  amidst  dangers 
and  disputes. 


HENRY  rv.  383 

His  marriage  had  furnished  the  occasion  for  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew.  While  his  fellow-religionists  were 
succumbing  to  the  murderous  accomplices  of  the  Guises,  he 
was  compelled  to  abjure  his  faith  in  order  to  save  his  life. 
His  heroic  mother,  Jeanne  d'Albret,  had  died  under 
suspicious  circumstances ;  he  had  taken  part  in  numerous 
conflicts,  had  been  hardened  by  many  reverses.  At  first  he 
had  only  been  tested  as  a  brave  soldier,  and  more  than 
this  he  did  not  appear  to  be. 

And  yet  he  was  the  means  of  changing  the  aspect  of 
France.  The  loyal  sentiments  of  the  nation  were  fixed 
upon  him  ;  a  healthy  patriotism,  which  had  perished  in  the 
horrors  of  civil  war  and  religious  animosity,  warmed  up  at 
the  sight  of  him ;  and  he  was  the  man  to  bring  about  the 
needful  change,  and  to  give  it  the  right  direction.  He  was 
not  one  of  those  superior  men  who  can  call  forth  mighty 
creations  out  of  chaos,  and  point  out  the  course  which  shall 
be  taken  for  a  long  time  to  come,  and  yet  he  was  not  far 
behind  them. 

He  possessed  to  the  full  that  happy  talent  of  attracting 
all  cognate  elements  to  himself — of  nullifying  all  that  was 
inimical,  of  retaining  the  mastery  in  all  the  situations  of 
life.  This  was  a  proof  of  unusual  personal  greatness,  even 
if  it  cannot  be  said  that  he  launched  new  and  bold  ideas 
into  the  world. 

He  was,  above  all  things,  a  thorough  soldier,  as  after  his 
past  history  he  could  not  fail  to  be.  After  the  close  of  the 
great  war  two  hundred  actions  were  counted,  besides  the  great 
battles  in  which  he  had  been  engaged,  and  almost  always 
without  receiving  any  injury.  He  had  that  happy  and  care- 
less disregard  of  danger  which  is  bred  of  the  popular  heroic 
spirit — which  feels,  and  makes  others  feel,  that  he  is  under 
a  propitious  star.  This  always  excites  enthusiasm  among 
a  people  so  impressible  as  the  French  for  military 
glory. 

Still  he  was  not  only  a  soldier.  Even  while  pursuing  the 
bloody  trade  of  war,  he  had  retained  a  nobility  of  nature  ; 
the  softer  traits  of  a  royal  character  had  not  been  effaced 
by  camp  life.  He  not  only  Jcnew  how  to  plunge  into  the 
tumult  of  battle  with  his  comrades  and  soldiers,  or  as  a 
general  to  measure  the  distances  over  a  wide  expanse  :  he 
was  also  a  simple,  open-hearted,  chivalrous  man,  who 
heartily  enjoyed  life,  and  had  plenty  of  natural  dexterity  in 


384  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN   FRANCE. 

adapting  himself  to  men — in  detecting  at  a  glance  their 
strong  and  weak  points. 

The  stories  of  the  amiable  private  life  of  his  youth  are 
well  known,  so  different  from  the  coarse,  selfish  sensuality 
and  bigotry  of  the  last  of  the  Valois.  It  was  told  how  he 
caroused,  joked,  and  laughed  with  his  friends  ;  one  day  gave 
himself  up  to  love-making,  the  next  kept  up  free,  unrestrained 
intercourse  with  the  people  ;  greeted  every  one  with  royal 
and  winning  grace,  sympathizingly  inquired  after  the  welfare 
of  the  humblest,  gained  men's  favour  more  rapidly  by  a 
well-timed  word  and  his  ready  wit  than  by  the  greatest 
victories  on  the  battle-field. 

Besides  all  this,  he  possessed  a  wonderful  elasticity,  could 
endure  privations  and  last  with  any  one.  Notwithstanding 
his  sensuous  temperament,  he  could  rest  upon  the  bare 
ground,  share  frost,  heat,  hunger,  and  thirst  with  the  most 
insignificant  of  his  soldiers,  and  yet  be  the  first  to  face  the 
enemy,  the  last  to  leave  the  field.  He  carried  on  the  most 
various  pursuits  simultaneously  and  with  equal  zeal,  and  his 
perpetual  love  affairs  and  boundless  excesses,  which  usually 
enfeeble  the  strongest,  never  crippled  his  energies.  When 
he  died,  it  was  felt  that  a  youthful,  vigorous,  richly-gifted 
life,  teeming  with  health,  was  cut  off  in  its  midst.  He  knew 
nothing  of  weakness,  illness,  or  those  hypochondriacal  fancies 
which  were  the  curses  of  the  last  of  the  Valois.  The  only 
bitterness  of  which  he  was  capable,  now  and  then  showed 
itself  in  transient  humours,  and  a  soldier-like  contempt  for 
human  life.  It  may  well  be  said  that  Henry  IV.  was  a 
Frenchman  par  excellence ;  he  exhibited  the  bright  and 
dark  sides  of  the  national  character  completely ;  the  frivolity 
and  tendency  to  excess,  the  taste  for  martial  glory,  the  in- 
destructible light-mindedness  and  social  virtuosity,  the 
chivalry  of  sensuous  life.  It  is  obvious  that  such  a  person- 
age was  well  adapted  to  revive  the  extinct  loyalty  of  the 
nation. 

Henry  IV.  also  possessed  grand  royal  traits  of  character. 
He  may  be  called  frivolous  for  being  so  entirely  destitute 
of  revenge,  for  forgiving  and  forgetting  so  easily,  but  it  was 
an  immense  advantage  to  the  people  after  a  thirty  years' 
civil  war.  How  often  it  was  suggested  to  him  to  revenge 
himself  on  a  conquered  foe,  and  how  nobly  he  always 
rejected  the  proposal !  The  zealots  of  his  own  party,  who 
could  not  forget  the  butchery  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  many 


HENRY  IV.  385 

other  things,  might  think  it  frivolous,  but  it  was  an  unspeak- 
able advantage  for  the  restorer  of  the  national  kingdom. 
He  came  as  the  king  of  an  ill-treated,  betrayed,  and  fear- 
fully irritated  party ;  but,  during  his  reign  of  twenty  years 
he  always  appears  as  the  king  of  the  whole  people,  never 
as  the  successful  leader  of  a  party.  The  Bourbons  of  our 
days  would  have  been 'on  the  throne  still  had  they  displayed 
these  royal  qualities. 

He  was  a  man  of  strong  sensuality,  but  his  mistresses 
never  had  any  political  influence  over  him,  and  amidst  his 
countless  love  affairs  he  never  forgot  the  duties  imposed 
upon  him  by  his  proud  and  onerous  calling;  he  was 
sufficiently  well  schooled  in  the  grave  business  of  life  to 
give  a  higher  place  to  men  of  merit  than  to  women 
and  their  favour.  The  harsh  and  obstinate  Sully  often 
reproached  him  bitterly  with  his  frivolity,  and  strenu- 
ously opposed  him  in  great  measures ;  the  contest  some- 
times becomes  so  sharp  that  it  would  be  no  surprise  if  he 
dismissed  his  unamiable  minister  and  devoted  himself  to 
women.  But  we  know  that  no  such  purpose  ever  crossed 
his  mind. 

THE  ELEVATION  OF  HENRY  IV.  TO  THE  THRONE. 

The  King's  position  was  a  very  difficult  one.  His  rela- 
tions to  the  two  parties  who  had  been  fighting  for  life  or 
death  were  not  yet  clear.  He  was  not  a  fanatic,  like  those 
about  him.  As  the  son  of  a  zealous  Calvinistic  mother,  he 
had  been  brought  up  as  one  of  the  Reformed  party  from  child- 
hood, but  he  had  had  to  go  through  sundry  metamorphoses. 
During  the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew  he  was  compelled  to 
become  a  Catholic,  and  when  free  became  again  a  Pro- 
testant. Thus  he  was  able  to  look  at  things  with  a  cooler 
head  than  the  partisans  around  him.  His  interests  were 
indeed  connected  with  the  Reformed  party,  but  he  was  able 
to  put  its  religious  creed  on  and  off  like  something  external, 
which  was  afterwards  of  some  importance  to  him. 

Even  before  the  helpless  Henry  III.  had  taken  refuge 
in  his  camp,  the  leader  of  the  Huguenots  had  put  in  a 
conciliatory  word  amidst  the  war  of  Catholic  and  Protestant 
Frenchmen. 

Under  date  of  4th  of  March,  1589,  he  had  issued  an 
eloquent  address  to  the  States  and  all  his  countrymen,  pro- 

c  c 


3 86  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

testing  against  the  impatient  spirit  of  the  States  at  Blois, 
and  he  indicates  peace  between  the  creeds  as  the  only 
method  of  healing  the  sick  State.  "  Have  pity,  Frenchmen, 
on  your  fair  country  !"  he  had  exclaimed;  "cease  to  stain. 
it  with  the  blood  of  your  own  sons,  to  the  scorn  and  malicious 
satisfaction  of  your  enemies;  desist  from  civil  war  and 
return  to  concord.  I  myself  will  give  an  example  of  con- 
ciliation. I  will  take  under  my  protection  all  the  party  and 
persons  of  the  Catholics,  even  their  priests ;  for  I  know  it  is 
only  by  means  of  clemency,  peace,  and  good  example, 
that  true  piety  can  flourish,  and  distracted  States  can  re- 
cover." 

These  views  did  honour  to  the  patriot  and  the  politician  ; 
but  to  cause  them  to  take  effect  amidst  fierce  party  spirit 
was  a  difficult  and  arduous  task,  as  Henry  experienced  to 
the  full.  His  first  declaration,  after  the  death  of  Henry 
III.,  was  calculated  to  make  both  parties  beholden  to  him. 
He  declined  to  accept  the  suggestion  that  he  should  become 
a  Catholic.  A  creed  for  which  thousands  of  the  lower 
classes  had  joyfully  surrendered  their  lives,  could  not  be 
lightly  rejected  by  him  who  would  be  worthy  of  the  crown 
of  France.  It  might  be  done  by  a  scoffer,  one  who  had  no 
religion  at  all,  but  such  an  one  they  did  not  wish  for  a 
king.  On  the  other  hand,  he  did  not  think  that  the  creed 
in  which  he  had  been  born  and  bred  was  free  from  errors ; 
he  would  not  close  his  ears  against  instruction  on  the  subject, 
when  the  peers  and  office-bearers  of  the  realm  assembled 
around  him,  should  they  find  an  opportunity  of  discussing 
the  question. 

A  compromise  was  then  agreed  on,  according  to  which 
the  King  was  to  receive  instruction  in  the  Catholic  religion, 
and  was  to 'protect  the  Catholics  in  their  rights  and  dignities. 

In  thus  giving  the  Catholics  hopes  that  he  was  not  in- 
accessible to  capitulation,  and  showing  the  Protestants  that 
he  was  not  going  lightly  to  abjure  his  faith,  he  wished  to 
prevent  the  open  outbreak  of  schism  in  his  camp.  Had  he 
not  done  the  first,  the  Catholic  nobles  would  have  at  once 
forsaken  him,  and  have  probably  strengthened  the  forces  of 
the  League.  Nevertheless,  his  position  was  in  the  highest 
degree  difficult.  The  strict  Catholics  did  not  conceal  their 
mistrust ;  and  the  strict  Huguenots,  who  regarded  any 
approach  to  the  Catholics  as  defection  or  treason,  were 
deeply  displeased.  The  fascination  which  he  exercised 


HEXRY  IV.  387 

over  them,  the  recollection  of  long  companionship  in  arms, 
induced  them  to  overlook  it ;  but  he  could  not  prevent 
their  uttering  reproaches  in  his  presence. 

Thus  there  was  a  party  for  him  whom  he  did  not  dare  to 
offend,  and  had  to  treat  with  the  greatest  consideration  ; 
and  another,  more  than  half  against  him,  who  were  only  to 
be  bought  by  concessions.  There  was  at  first  no  talk  of 
royal  authority,  or  of  taxes,  revenue,  &c.  He  carried  on 
the  war  with  foreign  heretical  money,  and  strengthened  his 
army  with  Swiss  and  German  hirelings  ;  in  short,  in  spite  of 
his  undoubted  legal  claims  to  the  throne,  he  was  really  only 
a  pretender,  who  had,  amidst  a  thousand  dangers,  to  con- 
quer his  country  and  crown. 

The  great  Powers  of  Europe,  with  the  exception  of  Eng- 
land, only  now  becoming  great,  were  against  him ;  the 
Spanish  Hapsburgs  were  against  him ;  Philip  II.  declared 
at  once  that  he  did  not  acknowledge  his  rights  ;  Rome,  in 
a  bull  of  September,  1585,  declared  him  incompetent  to 
reign  ;  and  the  German  Hapsburgs  mostly  went  with  their 
Spanish  relations. 

Not  to  despair  in  such  a  situation  demanded  the  courage 
and  elasticity  of  a  man  like  Henry  IV.  His  army  was 
small,  his  means  scanty;  a  great  Power  like  Spain  was 
opposed  to  him,  whose  most  talented  general,  Alexander  of 
Parma,  was  now  entering  France  from  the  Netherlands ;  the 
League  was  in  possession  of  Paris ;  only  a  very  small  part 
of  the  Catholic  population  was  on  his  side ;  the  adhesion  of 
the  Huguenots  was  but  doubtful.  It  was  a  situation  which 
no  ordinary  man  could  face  without  dismay. 

But  during  these  bitter  days  we  never  hear  a  word  of 
despair  or  discouragement  from  Henry  IV.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  seems  secure  in  the  consciousness  that  he  must 
conquer,  and,  in  fact,  so  long  as  he  reigned,  his  cause  was 
not  lost. 

It  was  fortunate  for  him  that  his  opponents  were  by  no 
means  united.  Had  Spain,  the  Guises,  and  the  whole 
Catholic  population  united  against  him,  a  struggle  must 
have  ensued  in  which  Henry  IV.  could  not  have  been 
victorious. 

In  the  first  place,  among  the  party  of  the  Guises  there 
was  not  a  man  to  put  in  Henry's  stead  who  would  have 
ventured  to  aspire  to  the  crown,  and  thereby  to  give  the 
Revolution — ior  a  revolution  it  was — a  distinct  programme. 


388  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

The  surviving  brother  of  the  Guises,  Charles  of  Mayenne, 
was  a  brave  soldier,  but  he  wanted  Henry's  talents 
and  adventurous  ambition.  He  stood  rather  for  the 
security  of  his  brother's  will,  in  order  that  the  banner  of 
the  party  of  the  League,  whose  born  leader  he  was,  should 
be  upheld,  than  had  courage  to  carry  it  out  to  its  legitimate 
consequences ;  he  did  not  venture  to  have  himself  pro- 
claimed king,  as  his  friends  advised,  so  that  king  should 
stand  face  to  face  with  king,  but  only  took  half  measures, 
which  turned  to  his  adversary's  advantage. 

The  legitimate  right  of  Henry  IV.  was  rejected ;  but  as 
they  wished  to  have  an  opposition  king,  if  only  a  nominal  one, 
they  seized  upon  the  only  Catholic  Bourbon,  Henry's  uncle, 
a  man  of  sixty-seven  years  of  age,  who  had  never  troubled 
himself  about  the  government,  and,  as  a  cardinal,  was 
quite  unfit  to  play  this  part.  He  was  proclaimed  king  as 
Charles  X.  The  legitimacy  which  they  wished  to  main- 
tain was  only  apparent,  and  the  hereditary  right  of  the 
house  whose  next  heirs  were  passed  over  was  only  con- 
firmed. 

The  nephew  took  possession  of  the  person  of  his  uncle, 
and  kept  him  in  honourable  imprisonment,  but  so  that  his 
adversaries  could  not  get  at  him.  The  newly-proclaimed 
King  was  in  the  hands  of  his  most  dangerous  rival.  Then, 
within  the  party  which  had  hitherto  been  united,  divisions 
began  to  take  place. 

The  frightful  conspiracy  of  the  Sixteen,  who  had  now 
become  all-powerful  at  Paris,  had  at  first  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  the  League  except  its  enemies ;  composed  from 
the  first  of  an  undisciplined  mob,  and  tending  to  general 
anarchy,  the  mobocracy,  the  terrorism  of  the  demagogues, 
now  prevailed  to  so  unexampled  an  extent  at  Paris  that  it 
was  no  longer  compatible  with  any  tactics  directed  to  great 
general  ends.  The  Duke  of  Mayenne  was  a  soldier,  and 
felt  the  natural  aversion  of  the  camp  to  the  wild  doings  of 
lawless  crowds.  He  hated  the  barricading  plan  and  the 
terrorism  of  the  masses,  and  was  soon  of  opinion,  at  the 
risk  of  incurring  the  deepest  displeasure  of  the  dema- 
gogues, that  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  hang  up  a  few 
of  the  loudest  of  them  to  secure  peace.  Having  subdued 
the  mutineers  in  November,  1591,  he  put  it  in  practice. 

Thus  in  the  midst  of  the  party  itself  an  opposition  had 
arisen  between  the  Legitimists  of  the  camp  and  the  Mo- 


SCHEMES   OF   PHILIP  II.   IN   FRANCE.          389 

narchists  of  the  capital,  and  a  variance  had  arisen  among 
the  heads  of  the  coalition,  which  continually  increased. 
Spain,  Rome,  and  the  Guises  had  hitherto  held  together ; 
all  three  had  expressed  themselves  strongly  against  Henry's 
right  of  succession  ;  and  since  the  book  had  appeared  about 
the  legitimacy  of  the  Guises,  it  was  supposed  that  the 
vacated  throne  was  meant  for  them ;  but  this  appeared  to 
be  a  mistake,  so  far  as  Philip  II.,  the  most  powerful  of  the 
allies,  was  concerned. 

Had  it  been  the  murdered  Henry  of  Guise,  perhaps 
Spain  would  have  been  accommodating,  though  she  would 
not  acknowledge  Charles  of  Mayenne  as  king ;  but  it  was 
becoming  continually  more  evident  that  she  had  an  inten- 
tion of  reigning  in  France  herself.  Under  the  last  of  the 
Valois,  Philip  II.  had  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in  French 
affairs.  Spanish  money  and  Spanish  intrigues  had  con- 
stantly torn  and  kept  open  the  wounds  of  the  civil  war. 
If  France  becomes  Protestant,  so  said  his  spokesmen,  the 
Netherlands  and  Spain  itself  will  fall  victims  to  heresy. 
Thus,  after  the  death  of  Henry  III.,  they  justified  increased 
interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  France.  Charles  of 
Mayenne  was  advised  with  threats  not  to  grasp  at  the 
crown.  When  Charles  X.  was  proclaimed,  it  was  said,  the 
old  cardinal  cannot  be  king — let  there  be  a  regency ;  and 
the  most  natural  regent  would  be  Philip  II.  At  length,  in 
1 593,  it  was  proposed  to  make  Philip's  daughter,  the  Infanta 
Clara  Eugenia,  regent.  She  was  to  marry  an  Austrian  arch- 
duke, and  France  would  be  made  an  appanage  of  the  house 
of  Hapsburg. 

This  was  with  Philip  the  ambition  of  despair.  He  had 
failed  in  subduing  the  Netherlands ;  his  attack  upon  Eng- 
land was  defeated;  his  last  shift  was  the  crazy  idea  of 
gaining  a  firm  footing  in  France — perhaps  thence  he  could 
take  up  the  other  great  schemes  again. 

With  an  almost  bankrupt  State,  a  shipwrecked  fleet,  and 
a  decimated  army,  it  was  a  desperate  undertaking  to  try  to 
make  a  Spanish  province  of  a  country  whose  people  glowed 
with  national  feeling.  Among  all  the  forces  which  played 
a  part  in  these  complications,  nothing  helped  Henry  IV.  so 
much  as  this  Spanish  attempt  upon  the  independent  exist- 
ence of  France.  The  simple  consciousness  that  they  were 
Frenchmen  began  to  stir  in  the  hearts  of  thousands,  and 
overcame  the  dissensions  of  religious  parties.  Many  an 


3QO  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

honest  man  began  to  suspect  the  League,  and  perceived 
that  their  country  was  standing  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice. 
Among  these  was  Villeroi,  who  began  to  vacillate,  and 
whom  Henry  afterwards  chose  as  his  minister  out  of  the 
very  camp  of  the  League.  Even  Charles  of  Mayenne 
began  to  listen  to  these  considerations. 

At  Arques,  1589,  and  Ivry,  1590,  Henry  had  obtained 
his  first  military  successes  over  superior  powers.  But  they 
had  not  helped  him  forward.  On  the  3oth  of  August,  1590, 
he  was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  of  Paris.  The  capital 
remained  under  the  dominion  of  a  mob,  excited  to  madness 
by  fanatical  priests  and  unscrupulous  demagogues ;  the 
greater  part  of  his  army,  which  he  had  with  difficulty  sup- 
ported, escaped  from  him ;  the  most  important  cities  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  enemy ;  the  country  was  exhausted ;  and 
while  the  adversary  received  large  sums  from  Spain,  the 
small  subsidies  which  he  had  received  from  England, 
Holland,  and  the  little  princes  of  Germany,  were  scarcely 
sufficient  for  the  most  necessary  expenditure. 

The  dissensions  which  raged  in  the  enemy's  camp  gave 
him  time  to  breathe. 

The  attitude  of  the  raging  sect  of  the  Sixteen  in  Paris 
soon  amounted  to  open  treason  against  the  country.  They 
already  subscribed  themselves  to  King  Philip  as  "  his 
Majesty's  obedient  servants ;  "  but  their  terrorism  became 
so  fearful,  that  Mayenne  himself  had,  at  the  end  of  1591,  to 
interfere  with  his  military  authority. 

The  King  now  received  the  first  message  from  Mayenne, 
offering  to  come  to  terms  on  certain  conditions.  These 
could  not  be  acceded  to  ;  but  the  attempt  showed  that  the 
last  of  the  Guises  had  had  enough  of  the  reign  of  madness 
in  Paris,  and  the  superciliousness  of  Spain  had  begun  to 
make  him  anxious.  The  more  wildly  the  terrorists  behaved, 
the  bolder  was  Philip  with  his  projects.  Individual  defec- 
tions followed;  after  1591-2  one  and  another  nobleman 
joined  the  King's  cause ;  but  with  these  isolated  conquests 
it  ended.  All  assured  him  that  it  had  cost  them  great  sacri- 
fices, and  the  rest  were  not  strong  enough  to  make  them  so 
long  as  the  King  remained  a  heretic.  The  Diet,  which  met 
at  Paris  in  January,  1593,  and  which  the  national  Catholic 
party  under  Mayenne,  and  the  Spanish  party,  hoped  to  turn 
to  good  account,  led  to  nothing ;  or  rather,  the  supercilious 
attitude  of  Feria,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  hastened  the 


HENRY'S  CONVERSION  TO  CATHOLICISM.    391 

breach  between  Mayenne  and  Philip,  and  confirmed  the 
idea  of  entering  into  fresh  negotiations. 

These  negotiations,  which  took  place  in  April  and  May 
between  the  royalist  and  national  Catholic  party,  convinced 
Henry  that  without  becoming  a  Catholic  he  could  not  be 
King  of  France.  He  therefore  gave  the  first  definite  pro- 
mise on  the  subject. 

Meanwhile,  the  negotiations  between  the  Spanish  com- 
missioners and  the  Diet  were  openly  carried  on.  Mayenne 
tried  in  vain  to  intrigue  for  himself;  the  Spaniards  went 
abruptly  to  work  at  their  purposes,  tried  to  bring  about  the 
speedy  election  of  a  sovereign  at  any  price,  whether  it  were 
Philip,  his  daughter,  or  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg. 
But  the  bolder  they  were,  the  stronger  was  the  national 
disinclination  to  the  Spaniards. 

In  July,  1593,  Henry  went  over  to  Catholicism,  and  this 
upset  all  the  machinations  of  the  enemy. 

The  priests  and  the  Papal  Legate  in  vain  declared  that 
his  conversion  was  a  lie.  Henry's  adherents  increased  from 
day  to  day  ;  the  defection  even  reached  the  ranks  of  the 
zealous  Leaguists  ;  and  when,  in  March,  1594,  Henry  sur- 
prised Paris,  the  power  of  the  League  was  broken.  In  the 
course  of  the  year,  one  city  after  another  opened  its  gates 
to  him;  the  Catholic  nobility  did  homage  to  him  in  a 
mass,  and  among  them  even  Mayenne,  Henry  of  Guise, 
Nevers,  &c. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  son  of  Jeanne 
d'Albret  took  a  step  which  she  would  never  have  forgiven 
him. 

It  is  not  easy  to  excuse  a  man  who  changes  his  religion 
for  external  reasons ;  he  can  never  be  regarded  as  a  model 
of  strength  of  character  who,  for  the  sake  of  a  crown, 
changes  his  creed  like  a  garment.  But  it  is  certain  that  the 
crown  was  not  to  be  had  at  any  other  price,  that  Henry  had 
not  the  spirit  of  a  martyr,  and  that  his  change  of  religion 
saved  France  from  falling  into  an  abyss. 

It  was  not  a  time  when  a  monarch  whose  creed  was  that 
of  a  minority  could  rule  the  land.  Who  can  say  how  it 
would  be  to-day  if  a  Calvinist  tried  to  govern  France  ! 
Few  will  say  that  it  would  be  practicable  even  in  our  en- 
lightened days,  and  no  one  that  it  was  so  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  A  frightful  fratricidal  war  had  been  raging  for 
thirty  years,  in  which  difference  of  creed  caused  men  not  to 


392  THE   RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN   FRANCE. 

shrink  from  the  most  cruel  murders.  In  such  a  state  of 
things  there  is  no  standpoint  for  a  ruler  so  elevated  that  he 
can  afford  to  overlook  the  creed  of  the  majority,  and  ascend 
the  throne  as  the  representative  of  the  minority.  As  a 
Huguenot,  Henry  could  neither  rule  France  then,  nor  ever. 
As  a  Catholic,  three  attempts  to  assassinate  him  had  failed 
— the  fourth  succeeded,  because  the  Catholic  fanatics,  the 
Jesuits,  always  regarded  him  as  a  secret  heretic  and  an  out- 
law. What  could  he  expect  if  he  remained  an  avowed 
heretic  ? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  how  a  man  whose  convictions 
were  all  in  all  to  him,  ought  to  and  would  have  acted ; 
but  such  an  one  must  not  hanker  after  earthly  crowns  : 
he  must  remain  within  his  sanctuary  until  his  last  breath. 
But  Henry  was  not  made  for  a  martyr  to  his  religious  con- 
victions ;  the  lightness  with  which  he  regarded  such  things 
was  connected  with  some  noble  qualities  in  which  most 
of  the  uncompromising  Huguenots  were  wanting.  The 
magnanimous  toleration  which  a  monarch  in  such  circum- 
stances must  consider  as  one  of  his  most  sacred  duties, 
and  which  Henry  IV.  really  did  practise,  belonged  to  them 
as  little  as  to  their  adversaries.  Even  though  it  may  be 
looked  upon  as  frivolity,  it  will  not  be  disputed  that  it  was  an 
unspeakable  benefit  to  France,  and  saved  her  from  an  igno- 
minious foreign  rule  and  endless  sanguinary  convulsions. 

There  was  no  other  means  of  securing  to  France  the 
peace  which  she  so  urgently  needed,  if  she  was  not  to  be 
torn  in  pieces ;  and  this  Henry  clearly  saw.  It  was  not 
mere  idle  ambition — not  the  idea  that,  clothed  in  the  purple, 
he  could  dispense  with  religion — but  the  consciousness  of 
his  mission  to  give  the  peace  to  France  which  all  his  pre- 
decessors had  denied  her.  This  appeared  to  him  as  his 
vocation.  Before  fortune  had  smiled  upon  him,  he  declared 
it  to  be  his  best  title  ;  and  the  reasonable  critic  must  take 
this  into  account. 

Thus,  in  the  summer  of  1593,  as  the  Catholic  party  were 
unyielding,  he  resolved  to  take  the  step  which  he  had 
hitherto  declined. 

His  motives  were  certainly  entirely  political ;  and  those 
who  attempted  his  life  were  not  altogether  wrong  in  saying 
that  he  was  secretly  a  heretic.  Only  priestly  absurdity 
could  expect  him  to  give  up  affection  for  his  old  party,  and 
devotion  to  their  cause.  But  if  steps  like  these  are  judged 


HENRY'S  CONVERSION  TO  CATHOLICISM.    393 

by  their  results,  no  greater  triumph  than  this  can  be 
imagined. 

When  he  went  over  to  Catholicism,  the  opposing  party 
was  broken  up — France  was  conquered.  It  was  now  not 
only  isolated  renegade  Catholic  nobleman  who  came  to 
him,  not  concealing  how  difficult  the  step  was,  but  the 
whole  nation  :  the  cities,  the  leaders  of  the  native  aristo- 
cracy came  also,  and  in  a  frame  of  mind  which  showed  how 
joyfully  they  submitted  to  a  king  who  was  not  the  mortal 
enemy  of  their  Church.  During  the  following  spring  the 
capital  was  occupied  almost  in  sport ;  Paris  submitted  to 
him  almost  without  a  blow. 

How  was  it  now  with  the  Huguenots  ?  They  were  his 
army  and  his  party.  Now  that  he  had  forsaken  them,  did 
they  not  also  forsake  him  ? 

It  is  a  striking  testimony  to  the  commanding  character  of 
the  man,  and  his  power  of  attracting  men  to  himself,  that 
this  was  not  the  case.  There  was  indeed  some  vacillation  ; 
the  party  was  discontented,  and  complained  openly  and 
secretly  that  the  cause  for  which  so  much  blood  had  been 
shed  was  lost.  But  none  of  them  deserted  him ;  he  was 
still  their  Henry  of  Navarre,  who  had  fought  with  them  for 
twenty  years ;  it  was  among  them  that  he  had  grown  up 
into  a  knight  without  fear  and  without  reproach;  he  had 
shared  with  them  distress,  privation,  danger,  and  victory  ; 
they  could  trust  him  as  they  could  trust  themselves  when 
he  said  that  he  would  be  a  King  for  Catholics  and  Protest- 
ants alike. 

GOVERNMENT  OF  HENRY  IV.,  1594-1610. 

The  kingdom  which  Henry  IV.  now  entered  upon  was  in 
a  state  which  it  is  difficult  to  describe  ;  the  task  of  closing 
rhe  chasm  which  had  been  yawning  in  this  country  lor  a 
generation  demanded  unusual  powers. 

The  diminution  of  population  was  reckoned,  even  in 
1580,  at  700,000  men,  and  since  that  time  at  double  that 
number  ;  the  loss  was  of  those  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  was 
only  equalled  in  the  Napoleon  wars.  There  was  no  longer 
anything  like  order,  morality,  or  security ;  there  was  poverty 
and  devastation  everywhere,  and  most  of  all  in  the  country ; 
there  was  no  longer  any  trace  of  taxation,  law,  order,  or 
government ;  a  wild  banditti  life,  the  scourge  of  such  times, 


394  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN   FRANCE. 

flourished  for  years  upon  every  highway  ;  and  what  sort  of 
seed  had  been  sown  in  the  minds  of  the  educated  classes, 
by  the  civil  war,  was  shown  by  the  attempts  to  assassinate 
the  King,  which  were  avowedly  the  result  of  Jesuitical 
intrigues.  The  efficiency  of  the  new  government  was 
shown  by  a  variety  of  rapid  results  ;  if  the  civil  war  was 
calculated  to  dissolve  all  the  elements  of  political  life,  its 
bleeding  wounds  were  now  healed  in  an  incredibly  short 
time. 

The  first  thing  was  to  restore  peace  with  foreign  powers, 
and  to  settle  accounts  with  Spain. 

War  was  declared  with  her  in  January,  1595.  It  was 
inevitable,  partly  for  honour's  sake,  partly  because  Spain 
still  occupied  large  portions  of  the  country,  and  the  contu- 
macious nobles  were  supported  by  the  Spanish  troops. 
When  the  superiority  of  Spain  as  a  military  power  is  con- 
sidered, and  the  exhaustion  of  France,  it  must  be  allowed 
that  Henry,  who  depended  upon  aid  from  England  and  the 
Netherlands,  carried  on  the  war  pretty  successfully.  It  was 
Philip's  last  war,  and  the  result  was  the  same  as  in  all  the 
others — he  had  to  renounce  all  of  which  he  thought  himself 
secure,  and,  after  enormous  sacrifices,  to  acknowledge  that 
his  enemy  was  victor.  The  Peace,  after  he  had  been  beaten 
at  all  points,  put  the  seal  upon  Philip's  reign ;  he  had  lived 
in  vain. 

The  Peace  of  Vervins,  2nd  of  May,  1598,  confirmed  that 
of  Cateau  Cambrasis  :  both  parties  gave  up  their  conquests, 
and  France  regained  those  made  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy. 
Peace  was  also  made  with  the  Pope. 

Rome  had,  not  without  some  shame,  to  retrace  all  the 
disgraceful  steps  which  she  had  publicly  taken.  Any  further 
explanation  than  that  the  King  had  returned  to  the  Catholic 
Church  was  refused ;  he  could  not  even  be  prevented  from 
promising  to  acknowledge  both  religions. 

No  French  king  had  ever  yet  settled  matters  with  Rome 
like  the  converted  heretic  whom  Rome  had  repeatedly 
declared  to  be  for  ever  disqualified  from  reigning. 

France  was  at  length  freed  from  the  foreign  troops  and 
foreign  intrigues  by  which  she  had  been  tormented  ever 
since  1562  ;  the  foundations  were  laid  of  an  orderly  internal 
administration. 

The  most  important  step  in  this  direction  was  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  by  which  Henry  made  peace  with  the  Hugue- 


THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES.  395 

nots.  This  law  granted  greater  toleration  than  any  other 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  It  conceded  too  much  rather  than 
too  little,  not  of  religious  liberty,  but  of  political  privilege. 
Not  that  the  Huguenots  abused  it,  but  it  was  a  reproach  to 
them ;  it  gave  a  handle  to  the  assertion  that  they  formed  a 
State  within  the  State,  were  an  obstacle  to  complete  national 
unity ;  and  it  was  this  point  in  the  Edict  which  was  after- 
wards attacked. 

During  the  last  few  years,  the  Reformers,  who  could  not 
forget  the  King's  defection,  and  thought  that  all  their 
sacrifices  were  repaid  with  ingratitude,  had  been  perpetually 
plying  him  with  their  grievances ;  various  negotiations  were 
entered  into,  until  at  last,  on  i3th  of  April,  1598,  the  cele- 
brated Edict  was  signed  at  Nantes,  in  the  secret  articles  of 
which,  as  well  as  in  the  Brevets,  their  religious  and  civil 
position  was  defined.* 

In  religion,  liberty  of  conscience  was  granted  them.  All 
nobles  possessing  superior  jurisdiction  were  allowed  to 
teach  Calvinism,  and  every  one  might  share  their  teaching. 
Nobles  without  this  jurisdiction  were  granted  the  same 
privilege,  and  might  admit  a  number  of  persons  to  their 
services,  unless  they  lived  in  places  where  the  jurisdiction 
belonged  to  Catholic  nobles.  In  all  towns  and  villages 
where  Calvinistic  service  had  been  held  up  to  August,  1797, 
it  was  permitted  to  be  continued  or  restored.  For  all  those 
whose  dwellings  were  scattered,  a  place  was  appointed  in 
a  suburb  or  village  where  service  might  be  held.  Paris 
and  a  number  of  other  cities  were  excepted;  no  Re- 
formed service  was  allowed  in  them.  In  other  places  they 
were  permitted  to  possess  church  bells,  schools,  &c.,  but 
the  Catholic  religion  was  supreme ;  the  Reformers  had  to 
observe  the  fete  days,  and  pay  tithes  to  the  Catholic  clergy. 
But  they  might  levy  a  church  tax  upon  themselves  to  defray 
their  own  expenses,  and  receive  an  annual  stipend  of  45,000 
dollars. 

As  to  civil  rights,  the  obligations  and  privileges  of  the 
Protestants  were  the  same  as  those  of  the  Catholics,  and 
they  had  equal  claims  to  imperial  offices  and  dignities. 
There  was  a  Court  of  Justice  in  Paris  (Chambre  de  1'Edit), 
for  Normandy  and  Brittany ;  at  Castres,  for  the  district  of 
Toulouse  ;  at  Bordeaux  and  Grenoble,  Chambres  mi-parties, 
before  which  Protestants  from  Provence  and  Burgundy 
»  Weber,  Geschichte  des  Calvinismus. 


396  THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

were  summoned.  There  was  also  an  inferior  tribunal  for 
recusancy ;  the  previous  unjust  sentences  were  reversed,  the 
exiles  recalled.  They  were  to  retain  for  eight  years  all  the 
fortresses  which  had  belonged  to  them  before  1597,  with  all 
their  military  stores.  They  either  had  their  own  governors 
and  administration  like  La  Rochelle,  Montauban,  and 
Nismes,  or  were  garrisoned,  and  the  governors  appointed  by 
the  Reformers. 

This  was  a  well-meant  provision  ;  for  eight  years  at  least 
the  Huguenots  were  secure  against  reverses.  If  the  King 
was  murdered,  there  was  a  pledge  that  they  would  still  be 
tolerated.  But  this  state  of  things  continued  beyond  the 
appointed  time ;  it  was,  in  fact,  recognised  as  a  perpetual 
right,  and  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  principle,  it  was 
in  the  highest  degree  inimical  to  the  tendency  of  the  French 
nation  to  absolute  unity  and  uniformity. 

Richelieu  afterwards  reaped  the  consequences  of  this 
danger.  With  all  this,  a  wise  and  energetic  administration 
went  hand  in  hand,  the  soul  of  which  was  Sully,  Maximi- 
lian de  Bethune,  Marquis  de  Rosny. 

A  Huguenot  nobleman,  knocked  about  and  hardened 
from  his  youth  upwards  in  the  wars  of  religion ;  a  genuine 
Calvinist,  harsh,  unapproachable,  incorruptible,  stiff  and 
obstinate ;  like  Henry  himself,  a  brave  cavalier,  but  unlike 
him  in  his  conscientiousness,  and  the  puritanical  strictness 
of  his  character,  he  was  a  type  of  the  Genevan  school,  as  it 
was  found  among  the  best  of  the  French  nobility. 

His  relations  with  the  State  and  the  King  were  those  of 
a  proud  landed  noble,  who  regarded  himself  as  the  ruler  of 
his  own  domain.  According  to  his  ideas  he  conferred  an 
honour  on  the  State  by  serving  it,  and  he  did  not  serve  it 
for  gain.  When  he  was  once  guilty  of  a  breach  of  dis- 
cipline, he  defiantly  addressed  the  King  with  the  words, 
•'  I  am  neither  your  subject  nor  your  vassal ;"  and  he  wrote 
to  Mary  of  Medici,  that  he  did  not  court  office ;  France 
might  be  proud  to  have  him  for  minister. 

Distinguished  as  a  soldier,  statesman,  and  financier,  he 
knew  how  to  rule  the  State  as  well  as  his  own  house.  He 
undertook  the  office  of  Minister  of  the  Interior,  of  Justice, 
War,  and  Finance. 

France  has  had  administrations  which  were  as  able  as  that 
of  Sully,  but  none  so  independent  and  irreproachable. 

It  was  necessary  to  undertake  a  reorganization  on  a  large 


SULLY'S  ADMINISTRATION.  397 

scale  ;  a  new  administration,  from  the  lowest  step  upwards. 
It  was  for  this  reason  that  he  kept  a  number  of  ministerial 
offices  in  his  own  hands  ;  with  the  exception  of  foreign 
affairs,  he  was  chief  of  all  the  departments.  From  the  laying 
out  of  new  roads,  and  establishing  security  of  intercourse  in 
town  and  country,  to  the  highest  questions  of  administra- 
tion and  finance,  the  State  had  to  be  reconstructed  and 
reformed,  and  Sully  accomplished  it  all  with  the  strict 
conscientiousness  and  untiring  energy  which  were  peculiar 
to  him. 

There  were  really  no  revenues.  Enormous  taxes,  which 
were  an  oppressive  burden  almost  up  to  the  time  of  the  re- 
volution, were  already  the  scourge  of  France ;  they  were 
ruinous,  yet  brought  no  money  to  the  State,  for  it  was  all 
swallowed  up  in  bad  administration.  All  that  the  State 
had  power  over,  had  gone  to  ruin  ;  the  crown  lands  were 
recklessly  given  away,  or  sold  for  ridiculous  prices  ;  patents 
of  nobility  were  already  sold,  immunity  from  taxes  and 
other  important  privileges  were  connected  with  them, 
though  they  were  sold  so  cheap.  By  this  means  the 
number  of  taxpayers  was  so  decreased  as  to  bring  France 
to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 

The  finances  were  in  indescribable  confusion.  The  debt 
of  France  was  enormous  ;  Sully  reckoned  it  at  345,000,000 
livres,  which,  taking  into  account  the  relative  value  of  money 
and  the  revenues  of  the  State,  was  more  than  it  has  ever  been 
since.  It  did  not  appear  how  even  the  interest  of  this  sum 
was  to  be  obtained.  The  administration  was  as  reckless  as 
it  was  possible  for  it  to  be.  The  names  of  those  to  whom 
no  crown  lands  could  be  given  were  inscribed  in  the  great 
debtors'  book  of  France  ;  they  became  the  creditors  of  the 
State,  the  State  their  debtors. 

It  was  impossible  to  help  France  but  by  severe  measures, 
which  were  inimical  to  many  personal  interests.  These 
could  only  be  adopted  by  a  man,  the  purity  of  whose 
character  disarmed  calumny,  who  had  never  been  suspected 
of  enriching  himself  at  the  expense  of  the  State  and  its 
usufructuaries. 

Sully  could  venture  to  plunge  into  the  chaos  of  these 
finances,  to  lessen  the  burden  of  debt  by  searching  into  the 
legal  claims  of  the  creditors  and  mercilessly  setting  aside 
all  that  were  illegal.  He  put  a  stop  to  the  squandering  of 
crown  lands,  demanded  the  restoration  of  those  that  had 


THE  RELIGIOUS   WARS   IN  FRANCE. 

been  illegally  appropriated,  revised  the  patents  of  nobility 
and  partially  abolished  them,  and  reformed  the  worst  abuses 
of  the  system  of  tax-farming. 

Many  individuals  suffered  severely,  but,  on  the  whole, 
what  was  necessary  was  also  just.  Nine  possessors  of  crown 
lands  out  of  ten  had  no  right  to  them ;  nine  out  of  ten  had 
long  ago  been  compensated  for  the  price  paid  for  their 
patents  of  nobility,  and  were  now  in  the  comfortable 
enjoyment  of  rich,  undeserved  revenues. 

In  this  manner  Sully  again  created  a  treasury  by  regain- 
ing the  crown  lands;  he  diminished  the  debts  and  privileges 
to  a  surprising  extent,  and  restored  things  to  the  state 
in  which  they  were  before  the  time  of  the  last  of  the 
Valois. 

A  frightful  abuse  had  crept  into  the  Government  itself. 
Francis  I.  had  foolishly  increased  the  evil  which  prevailed 
during  the  ancient  monarchy,  of  causing  a  rapid  accession 
of  income  by  the  sale  of  public  offices ;  the  evil  was  great 
enough  of  itself,  and,  as  it  was  now  carried  on,  it  made  a 
reasonable  and  just  administration  simply  impossible. 
Offices  became  private  property,  the  tenure  of  them  a  bene- 
fice, the  officials  themselves  a  caste  with  whom  no  one  could 
interfere,  and  over  whom  there  was  no  control.  New  places 
were  always  being  created,  because  money  was  raised  by  it, 
so  that  a  superfluity  of  offices  arose  which  became  a  per- 
manent burden  on  the  people,  and  diminished  the  pros- 
perity of  the  nation  to  two  or  three  times  the  extent  of  the 
advantage. 

Sully  abolished  a  number  of  these  places ;  it  was  a  severe 
blow  to  many,  but,  on  the  whole,  nothing  was  lost  by  it  but 
the  enjoyment  of  a  great  abuse. 

All  this  occupied  but  a  decade.  It  would  only  have 
been  possible  to  a  man  like  Sully,  who  could  daily  remind 
the  King  and  country,  in  his  proud,  harsh  manner,  that  it 
was  he  who  was  making  the  greatest  sacrifices  for  the  State, 
and  that  if  he  laid  down  his  office  that  very  day,  the  State 
would  have  more  to  complain  of  than  he.  When  he  after- 
wards found  difficulties  under  the  regency,  he  really  did 
throw  his  portfolio  at  the  feet  of  the  Queen. 

An  administration  like  this  is  rare  anywhere,  but  espe- 
cially in  France,  where  the  idea  early  arose  of  looking 
upon  the  State  as  a  provision  for  the  nobles,  clergy,  and 
officials. 


SULLY'S  ADMINISTRATION.  399 

Henry's  relation  with  Sully  is  one  of  the  great  traits  of 
his  character.  He  quite  agreed  in  the  leading  ideas  of 
Sully's  policy ;  even  adopted  the  rigid  economy  urged  by 
his  minister,  which  was  so  little  in  accordance  with  his 
taste,  and  he  must  often  have  heard  himself  blamed  as 
miserly.  Differences,  however,  were  often  apparent  enough 
in  the  carrying  out  of  his  projects.  Henry  would  not 
always  yield  to  the  rigid  moralist,  and  we  now  and  then  see 
an  attempt  by  the  court  to  thwart  his  purposes,  but  when  it 
came  to  a  contest,  Sully  always  prevailed. 

France  now  began  to  flourish  greatly. 

Sully  was  not  only  the  "  Minister  of  Agriculture," 
whose  only  idea  was  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  he  con- 
sidered this  branch  of  industry  in  its  connection  with  the 
State,  and  was  the  first  who  expressed  the  idea  that  if 
agriculture  was  to  have  its  rights,  of  which  it  was  deprived 
till  the  revolution,  and  only  obtained  by  its  means,  the 
notorious  land  tax  must  be  abolished.  The  first  rational 
encouragement  of  trade  also  dates  from  his  labours,  and 
of  those  branches  of  industry,  such  as  silk  culture,  which 
afterwards  flourished  for  centuries  in  France.  When  the 
time  for  the  great  progress  of  commerce  and  navigation 
came,  the  man  also  appeared  who  built  upon  the  founda- 
tions so  successfully  laid  by  Sully. 

The  State  now  again  possessed  the  elements  necessary  to 
internal  and  external  prosperity :  funds,  a  regular  income, 
crown  lands,  law  and  justice,  trade,  commerce,  work,  and 
intercourse.  The  condition  of  the  masses  was  better  than  it 
had  been  since  the  times  of  Francis  I.  Civil  war  had  ceased ; 
lasting  peace  was  secured  between  the  creeds;  peace 
was  made  with  Spain  and  Rome  on  honourable  terms ; 
every  branch  of  peaceful  industry  flourished  with  an  energy 
proportionate  to  the  time  during  which  it  had  been  de- 
prived of  protection  and  security. 

Such  a  government,  continued  from  ten  to  twenty  years, 
would  have  created  a  power  for  France  such  as  she  after- 
wards attained  under  Louis  XIV.,  for  even  now  no  other 
ancient  monarchy  of  the  Continent,  not  even  Spain  nor 
Austria,  could  compete  with  her.  But  fate  had  decreed- 
otherwise.  Henry  IV.  and  Sully  were  called  away  before 
their  time;  the  former  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  the 
latter  not  long  after  him.  Instead  of  a  vigorous  pursuance 
of  the  paths  that  had  been  entered  upon,  came  all  the 


400  THE  RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE. 

weaknesses   of    a   feminine    regency;    still,    the    previous 
government  was  not  without  result. 

The  threads  of  it  were  taken  up  by  Richelieu,  and  he 
carried  the  formation  of  the  absolute  monarchy,  begun  by 
Sully,  to  the  acme  of  its  greatness. 

As  a  Calvinist,  Sully  was  not  an  adherent  of  this  form  of 
government,  but  circumstances  made  such  a  dictatorship 
inevitable.  At  first,  notables  and  commissions  were  as- 
sembled, but  such  a  chaos  arose  that  it  was  a  decided 
advantage  when  the  dictatorship  prevailed  without  taking 
account  of  individual  opinion.  Under  Henry  IV.,  States 
and  notables  gradually  disappear. 

The  tendency  of  Henry's  foreign  policy  was  sharply 
defined.  Various  elements  and  opinions  were  found  among 
his  ministry.  Besides  Sully,  there  was  Villeroi,  who 
struggled  for  the  party  of  the  League  to  the  last,  and,  with 
the  rest  of  his  party,  maintained  the  opinion  that  France 
must  enter  into  a  Catholic  alliance  with  Spain  and  Rome  to 
ward  off  innovations.  Henry  and  Sully,  on  the  contrary, 
were  decidedly  for  a  great  Protestant  League,  not  because, 
as  the  Jesuits  said,  he  was  still  a  Huguenot  at  heart,  but 
because  he  felt  himself  so  completely  the  King  of  France. 

Shortly  before  his  fall,  Coligny  had  advised  Charles  IX. 
to  reconcile  parties,  and,  with  the  united  power  of  both,  to 
inaugurate  a  national  policy  against  Spain  and  the  Haps- 
burgs.  It  was  with  this  idea  that  the  Huguenot  had 
entered  upon  the  inheritance  of  Francis  I.  It  certainly 
was  a  national  policy,  and  was  followed  up  by  Richelieu 
and  Louis  XIV.,  the  Revolution  and  Napoleon  I.  The 
realisation  of  the  "  Christian  European  Republic "  of 
Henry  IV.  would  have  made  France,  consolidated  within 
her  natural  boundaries,  the  centre  of  European  politics. 

Richelieu  did  afterwards  realise  this,  and  he  was  not  a 
converted  Huguenot,  but  a  cardinal  of  the  Romish  Church. 
He  used  the  Protestant  alliance  as  a  lever  to  extend  the 
boundaries  of  France,  and  this  was  precisely  what  was 
intended  by  Henry  IV.  when  he  entered  into  alliance  with 
England  and  the  Netherlands,  the  sworn  enemies  of 
Spain.  These  were  allies  who  would  not  oppose  him  if  he 
seized  upon  the  duchy  of  Lorraine,  and  other  valuable 
border  lands.  It  appears  to  me  that  this  was  as  truly  a 
French  policy  as  any  other,  and  yet  nothing  excited  so 
much  enmity  against  him  as  this. 


ASSASSINATION  OF  HENRY  IV.  401 

The  negotiations  and  good  understanding  with  the  Re- 
formers in  the  Palatinate,  Hesse,  England,  and  the 
Netherlands,  the  obvious  scheme  of  isolating  and  then 
destroying  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  the  stronghold  of  the 
ancient  faith,  appeared  to  the  Catholic  zealots  to  be  a  con- 
vincing proof  that  Henry  was  still  secretly  a  heretic ; 
although  he  went  to  mass,  and  performed  other  external 
acts,  still  he  must  be  at  heart  the  enemy  of  their  faith,  for 
he  was  the  enemy  of  both  its  bulwarks,  Spain  and  Austria. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  things  had 
taken  such  a  course  in  Germany  that  a  most  favourable 
opportunity  presented  itself  for  an  energetic  policy,  with 
command  of  men  and  money,  for  making  conquests  on  the 
eastern  frontier  of  France. 

The  intestine  quarrels  which  were  raging  there  were  very 
favourable  to  foreign  interference.  The  dispute  about  the 
succession  in  Juliers-Cleves  furnished  an  excellent  pretext 
for  it,  and  Henry  intended  to  take  advantage  of  it  to  pro- 
tect the  right  in  Germany  and  to  oppose  the  supremacy  of 
the  Hapsburgs.  As  things  were,  in  1609-10  the  great  con- 
flagration seemed  to  be  smouldering  which  afterwards  broke 
out.  Henry  was  preparing  to  crush  the  power  of  Spain  and 
the  Hapsburgs,  when,  just  as  he  was  about  to  join  the 
army,  he  was  struck  by  Ravaillac's  fatal  blow,  on  the  i4th 
of  May,  1610. 

So  far  as  we  know,  the  assassin  was  an  isolated  fanatic, 
who,  like  many  others,  believed  that  Henry  was  still  a 
heretic. 

Much  has  been  brought  forward  to  prove  that  a  deeply- 
laid  plot  existed ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  a  report  had 
been  spread  abroad  in  the  world  that  Henry  would  die  a 
violent  death. 

That  they  triumphed  over  the  heretic's  death  at  Rome 
and  Madrid,  only  proves  how  low  the  political  conscience 
there  had  sunk,  not  that  they  were  in  league  with  the 
assassin.  The  immediate  consequences  of  the  murder 
were  most  disastrous.  It  threw  France  back  into  con- 
fusion and  convulsions  for  fifteen  years,  and  lamed  the  arm 
of  her  foreign  policy  for  half  a  lifetime,  and  until  Richelieu 
gained  a  firm  footing.  But  when  this  was  over,  the  begin- 
ning made  by  Henry  IV.  was  continued  and  completed. 
The  murder  effected  nothing  but  delay. 


PART  VII. 

THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE,  FROM   THE  PEACE   OF  AUGS- 
BURG TO  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR,   1555-1618. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

GENERAL   SITUATION   OF   GERMANY*    AFTER    1555. 
Impotence  of  the  Empire. — Continuance  of  the  Contest  of  the  Creeds. 

/^ERMANY,  of  all  the  nations  of  the  Continent,  had 
VJf  passed  through,  most  thoroughly,  from  its  very  begin- 
ning, that  great  mental,  moral,  vital  process  which  we  call 
the  Reformation. 

The  breach  with  the  ancient  Church,  in  other  lands  the 
work  of  monarchical  ambition  and  political  calculation,  was 
in  Germany  the  act  of  the  nation  itself,  and  an  act  so 
decisive  that  even  some  of  its  adversaries  were  carried 
along  with  it,  and  Charles  V.  had  to  strike  sail  before  it. 
The  great  political  calculator  learnt  what  he  did  not  know 
before — the  power  in  history  of  the  moral  idea,  which  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  even  the  greatest  minds  cannot  set  it 
at  defiance.  A  far  greater  than  he  made  the  experiment 
once  again,  and  was  crushed  in  the  attempt.  The  weakest 
man  in  the  ranks  of  a  party,  for  whose  cause  he  is  ready  to 
die,  has  more  weight  than  all  these  realistic  great  ones,  who 
accomplish  nothing,  because  they  believe  in  nothing. 

.  *  Besides  the  before-mentioned  literature  :  Londorp,  Continuatio 
Sleidani.  Francof.  1619.  Schard,  Epitome  rer-gest.  in  dessen  op. 
hist.  Buchholz,  Geschichte  Ferdinands  I.  Vienna,  1835.  Anton, 
Geschichte  der  Concordienformel.  1779.  Hurter,  Ferd.  II.,  1854-59. 
Hammer  v.  Klesel's  Leben.  1851.  Kluckhon,  Briefwechsel  des  Kuxiurs- 
ten  Friedrichs  III.  des  Fiommen,  von  der  Pfalz.  I.  1559-66-67. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  403 

The  Reformation  did  not  deprive  Germany  of  its  unity. 
We  had,  even  then,  none  to  lose ;  but  that  an  opportunity 
was  lost,  never  to  recur,  of  securing  national  unity  with  the 
reform  of  the  Church,  was  the  fault  of  those  who  perhaps 
might  have  secured  it,  but  did  not  comprehend  the  situa- 
tion, and  wearied  themselves  in  fruitless  struggles  against 
the  spirit  of  the  age. 

With  the  deep  rent  which  took  place  in  the  nation,  in 
consequence  of  the  imperial  attitude,  a  time  of  increasing 
national  misery  begins ;  but  it  was  also  a  time  of  quiet  pre- 
paration for  those  soaring  mental  flights  upon  which  the 
pride  of  our  modern  culture  rests,  and  which  could  not  be 
attained  at  a  lower  price. 

The  nations  which  have  not  passed  through  this  process 
of  inward  renovation,  or  which  have  been  brought  through 
it  by  force,  have  to  lament  it  to  this  day ;  it  almost  seems 
as  if  some  were  for  ever  lamed  by  it. 

The  religious  Peace  of  1555  had  at  length  given  German 
Lutheranism  a  legal  existence,  but  it  had  not  created  a 
lasting  peace ;  indeed,  it  gave  rise  to  almost  as  many  new 
feuds  as  it  healed  old  ones.  The  victory  of  the  princi- 
palities over  the  imperial  power  was  far  more  decisive,  for, 
after  Charles's  last  unsuccessful  onslaught,  it  was  completely 
subdued.  The  empire  was  more  than  ever  destitute  of  an 
uniting  centre,  which  was  all  the  more  unfortunate  because, 
though  it  could  not  be  said  that  things  were  much  changed 
in  Germany,  they  were  all  the  more  changed  abroad. 

The  constitution  of  the  German  empire,  or  rather  the 
union  of  States  in  Germany,  whose  relations  it  controlled, 
had  long  before,  in  fact,  lost  its  monarchical  unity,  and  yet 
the  imperial  territory  had  not  experienced  great  or  im- 
portant losses  in  the  course  of  the  last  century,  for  the 
neighbouring  States  were  not  in  a  position  to  extend  them- 
selves at  its  expense.  It  was  this  circumstance  which  saved 
Germany  from  great  losses  during  the  dismal  period  of  the 
interregnum,  and  from  Rudolph  I.  to  Maximilian  I.,  other- 
wise I  know  not  what  there  was  under  Wenceslaus  or 
Frederic  III.  to  prevent  the  neighbours  from  plundering 
Germany. 

But  now  all  this  was  changed.  If  up  to  the  time  of  the 
Reformation  Germany  had  been  surrounded  by  weak  nations, 
now  several  powerful  States  were  on  her  frontiers.  A  strong 
monarchical  power  had  arisen  in  the  Scandinavian  States ; 


404   THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE  FROM    1555   TO    1618. 

the  same  had  begun  to  arise  in  France  under  Francis  I.,  and, 
after  thirty  years  of  confusion,  was  completed  under  Henry 
IV.  On  the  north  and  west  the  situation  of  Germany  was 
different  from  what  it  had  been  for  centuries.  No  one  had 
before  imagined  that  Denmark  or  Sweden  could  be  dan- 
gerous to  the  German  countries  on  the  Baltic,  or  that 
France  might  possess  herself  of  the  Western  provinces. 
But  all  these  dangers  were  now  at  hand,  and  the  neighbours' 
temptation  was  great  in  proportion  as  Germany's  power  of 
resistance  was  small. 

It  was  now  that  the  first  great  losses  of  German  territory 
occurred.  Much  of  the  kingdom  of  Arelate  had  been  lost 
before  ;  but  these  were  possessions  which  it  was  difficult  to 
maintain.  Now,  however,  important  territories,  Curland, 
Livonia,  and  Esthonia,  were  first  lost,  and  the  Burgundian 
provinces  estranged.  When  Spain  began  the  war  against 
the  religious  and  political  liberties  of  the  Netherlands,  the 
empire  was  not  in  a  position  to  enforce  its  old  claims. 
How  often  did  the  Netherlands  pray  that  the  ancient 
imperial  power  might  be  asserted  !  how  earnestly  did  the 
Orange  party  pray  for  protection  against  Spain  !  But  the 
German  Hapsburgs  approved  the  policy  of  their  Spanish 
relatives,  and  the  German  empire  was  thinking  of  nothing 
but  the  conversion  of  the  heretics.  All  great  political 
questions  were  obscured  by  those  relating  to  religious 
creeds;  the  loss  of  the  countries  on  the  Baltic,  of  the 
Netherlands,  even  of  the  three  bishoprics  of  Lorraine, 
occupied  very  little  of  the  attention  of  the  Diet.  The  dis- 
putes about  the  interpretation  of  the  Peace  of  Augsburg, 
and  the  ecclesiastical  reserves,  took  up  nearly  the  whole  of 
its  time. 

To  these  symptoms  of  increasing  external  weakness 
were  added  numerous  causes  of  endless  internal  disputes 
which  immediately  conduced  to  the  catastrophe. 

The  Peace  of  1555  was  incomplete.  It  contained  dubious 
and  obscure  clauses  enough  ;  and  had  there  been  fewer, 
that  peaceable,  conciliatory  spirit  was  wanting  on  both  sides 
without  which  no  union  could  be  effectual.  The  Peace 
granted  toleration  to  the  adherents  of  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion only,  not  to  the  other  Reformers  ;  and  yet  the  number 
of  them  was  considerable.  It  gave  rulers,  but  not  subjects, 
a  claim  to  toleration,  which  was  the  occasion  of  great  diffi- 
culties, and  the  great  question  about  benefices  and  dignities, 


THE  PEACE  OF  AUGSBURG.  405 

and  the  subjects  of  converted  ecclesiastics,  was  treated  in  a 
clause  of  secondary  legal  authority. 

During  the  time  when  both  parties  should  have  been 
accommodating  themselves  to  this  imperfect  Peace,  occurred 
the  restoration  of  the  Catholic  Church,  the  Council  of 
Trent,  the  establishment  of  the  order  of  Jesuits,  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  censorship  of  the  press. 
The  party  which  was  defeated  at  Passau  and  Augsburg  saw 
a  powerful  support  growing  up  for  it  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Alps,  and  thus  that  which  might  have  made  the  situation 
tolerable,  the  honest  desire  to  agree  as  well  as  might  be, 
was  wanting.  Neither  party  had  given  up  the  idea  of 
upsetting  the  peace  :  the  Protestants,  of  throwing  overboard 
the  ecclesiastical  restrictions  and  the  principle  of  exclusion  ; 
the  Catholics,  of  tearing  up  the  whole  treaty,  in  order  to 
bring  about  a  complete  restoration. 

During  the  third  and  fourth  decades  there  had  been  no 
idea  of  any  such  schemes  ;  but  now  courage  for  them  was 
restored.  Popes  like  Paul  IV.,  kings  like  Philip  II.,  openly 
said  that  heresy  must  be  extirpated  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  the  unity  of  the  Church  in  the  old  mediaeval 
sense  restored.  Very  little  more  is  required  to  stir  up  a  reli- 
gious war  than  the  fact  that  both  parties  chafe  against  union  ; 
all  that  is  wanted  is  a  spark  to  ignite  the  flame.  This  idea 
gave  rise  to  the  singular  proposition  of  1648,  that  both 
parties  were  bound  not  to  regard  the  peace  with  disfavour, 
lest  they  should  experience  another  fearful  civil  war.  It 
was  the  fault  of  both  parties  that  the  peace  did  not  last. 

An  undisturbed  peace  was  hardly  to  be  looked  for ;  the 
odious  conflict  was  still  too  fresh  in  the  remembrance  ot 
both  parties ;  the  idea  of  toleration,  of  the  peaceful  exist- 
ence of  differing  creeds  side  by  side,  was  essentially  foreign 
to  the  age;  it  did  not  even  exist  among  the  new  sects  for 
each  other ;  the  passions  evoked  by  the  long  strife  were  too 
fierce  ;  each  side  was  too  firmly  convinced  that  it  was  its 
mission  to  convert  the  other ;  the  Catholics  were  too  much 
engrossed  with  the  idea  of  the  supremacy  of  their  Church, 
the  adherents  of  the  new  doctrines  too  much  possessed 
with  that  zeal  for  conversion  which  belongs  to  young  creeds, 
for  any  opinion  to  gain  ground  that  it  was  better  to  have  an 
imperfect  peace  than  open  war. 

Thus  both  parties  vied  with  each  other  in  preventing 
men's  minds  from  settling  down,  partly  because  the  irritation 


406  THE  GERMAN   EMPIRE  FROM    1555   TO    l6lo. 

of  the  barely  reconciled  dissensions  was  still  too  great, 
partly  because  actual  interests  suffered  in  this  perpetual  state 
of  warfare,  and  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  solve  complicated  questions.  The  Protestants, 
split  up  into  different  churches  and  sects,  could  not  pro- 
claim this  with  so  much  emphasis  as  Roman  Catholicism, 
as  it  was  restored  at  Trent,  whose  apostles,  the  Jesuits, 
openly  preached  a  crusade  against  the  heretics ;  but  the 
Protestants  had  as  little  conciliatory  resignation  as  their 
adversaries. 

Wars  of  religion  were  blazing  up  around  Germany,  and 
sparks  flew  over  and  ignited  the  smouldering  flame.  In 
France  the  conflict  was  raging  between  the  Guises  and  the 
Huguenots  ;  in  the  Netherlands  the  Protestants  were  strug- 
gling with  Alba  and  his  successors.  German  princes  were 
in  connection  with  both  camps.  Similar  events  afterwards 
took  place  in  England  ;  a  reaction  on  the  position  of  both 
parties  in  Germany  was  inevitable. 

To  add  to  this,  it  happened  that  during  the  sixth  and 
seventh  decades  of  the  century  the  conflict  of  the  two  great 
floods,  Reformation  and  Restoration,  the  Confession  of 
Augsburg  and  the  dogmas  of  Trent,  found  a  theatre  upon 
German  soil.  Until  then  Protestantism  was  in  the  ascen- 
dant, inasmuch  as  it  had  done  what  the  Catholic  Church 
had  so  long  neglected  to  do  :  it  had,  with  surprising  success, 
possessed  itself  of  the  whole  of  intellectual  life,  of  litera- 
ture, of  the  modern  Humanistic  culture,  and  of  education. 
The  most  distinguished  names  in  every  branch  of  learning 
and  authorship  were  Protestant  in  greatly  preponderating 
numbers,  and  their  public  was  almost  the  whole  intellectual 
aristocracy  of  the  nation. 

After  the  sixth  and  seventh  decades  a  sort  of  reaction 
took  place.  Jesuitism,  in  accordance  with  its  principles, 
began  to  employ  modern  weapons  in  a  manner  totally 
difterent  from  the  monastic  orders,  who  at  last  were  ignorant 
of  the  world  and  of  learning. 

Jesuitism  was  not  wanting  in  talent,  learning,  or  skilful 
dialectics,  and,  thus  equipped,  it  appeared  upon  the  arena 
to  defeat  the  adversary  with  its  own  weapons. 

This  contest  was  the  prelude  to  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

PROTESTANTISM    IN   AUSTRIA. 

Ferdinand!.,  1558-64.  —  Maximilian  II.,  1564-76. —  Rudolph  II., 
1576-1612.  —  The  Bohemian  Royal  Charter  (Majestatsbrief), 
1609. — Duke  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  and  the  Imperial  City  of 
Donauworth,  1606-7.  —  The  Protestant  Union,  1608,  and  the 
Catholic  League,  1609. — Matthias,  1612-19. 

FERDINAND    I.,    1558-64. — MAXIMILIAN    II.,    1564-76. — 
RUDOLPH  II.,  1576-1612. 

TV  /TE  AN  WHILE  a  country  had  been  attacked  by  Pro- 
•L  '  A  testantism  which  had  hitherto  been  free  from  it — the 
hereditary  Austrian  dominions — and  within  a  short  period 
it  was  embraced  by  a  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants. 

It  came  to  pass  in  this  way : — Since  the  time  of  Ferdi- 
nand I.,  the  determined  and  energetic  opposition  to  Protest- 
antism had  been  discontinued.  Deeply  aft'ected,  as  may 
be  imagined,  by  the  fate  of  his  brother,  Ferdinand  began  to 
entertain  doubts  of  the  wisdom  of  the  attitude  he  had 
hitherto  assumed.  Formerly  one  of  the  hotspurs  in  perse- 
cuting the  heretics,  he  had  now  almost  broken  with  Rome, 
and  expressed  himself  more  emphatically  than  any  of  the 
German  princes  against  the  introduction  of  the  decrees  of 
the  Council  of  Trent.  The  misunderstanding  with  Rome 
made  him  more  lenient  towards  the  heretics,  the  decided 
exclusion  of  the  new  doctrines  from  the  country  ceased,  and 
so  Protestantism  began  to  make  its  way  into  Austria,  and 
to  unite  itself  with  all  the  elements,  national  and  political, 
of  this  diversified  empire. 

He  was  succeeded  in  1564  by  Maximilian  II.,  elected 
King  of  Rome  in  1562,  who,  in  fact,  was  above  party  spirit, 
disapproved  of  the  abuses  of  the  ancient  Church,  and  con- 
sidered the  divisions  of  the  Protestants  about  trifles  highly 
absurd.  He  equally  disapproved  of  the  intolerance  of  both 


408   THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE  FROM    1555   TO    l6l8. 

parties,  and  was  therefore  looked  upon  by  the  Protestants 
as  a  Jesuit,  by  the  Catholics  as  a  secret  heretic. 

It  was  unfortunate  for  him  that  he  lived  at  a  time  when 
there  was  no  appreciation  of  his  tolerant  spirit  and  lofty 
views.  His  proceedings  in  Austria  showed  that  he  earnestly 
desired  toleration  ;  he  allowed  the  landowning  nobility  to 
permit  the  preaching  of  both  the  new  and  old  doctrines  on 
their  estates. 

This  was  the  first  breach  with  the  old  system  in  Austria, 
a  toleration  of  both  forms.  The  Emperor's  idea  seemed  to 
be,  Fight  out  your  quarrel  with  each  other ;  both  shall 
have  light  and  space.  For  the  planting  of  Protestantism  it 
was  really  a  great  step.  Between  1564  and  1576  the  new 
doctrines  spread  over  nearly  the  whole  of  Austria,  not  only 
in  the  great  cities,  but  also  in  the  country.  Catholicism 
was  renounced  by  the  peasantry,  and  the  German  nobles, 
almost  without  exception,  had  embraced  Protestantism. 
We  know,  from  his  own  expressions,  that  in  Styria  Ferdinand 
II.  celebrated  the  communion  according  to  Catholic  usage 
with  but  few  others,  and  that  in  Gratz  and  the  neighbour- 
hood Protestantism  was  quite  in  the  majority.  In  Bohemia 
it  was  based  on  old  Hussite  memories.  Bohemian  his- 
torians have  told  us  how  all  forms  of  non-Catholicism  were 
spread  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  The  Tyrol  alone  re- 
mained the  unassailed  fortress  of  Catholicism ;  the  small 
number  of  towns,  the  want  of  contact  with  the  outer  world, 
the  predominating  peasant  character  of  the  population,  with 
but  few  nobles  or  superior  clergy,  its  being  surrounded  with 
ecclesiastical  principalities,  caused  the  Tyrol  to  remain 
almost  exclusively  true  to  the  old  faith. 

Rudolph  II.*  was  entirely  unlike  the  previous  Hapsburgs. 
Brought  up  in  Spain,  and  endowed  with  a  strong  tendency 
to  the  Spanish  melancholy,  which  from  this  time  ran  in  the 
blood  of  a  part  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  in  his  case, 
after  1600,  led  to  attacks  of  real  mental  disease,  he  became 
the  tool  of  women  and  Jesuits.  His  character  was  an 
unhappy  mixture  of  self-will,  passion,  weakness,  sensuality, 
and,  when  his  rage  was  spent,  abject  subjection  to  others. 
He  was  incapable  of  doing  any  lasting  good,  and  was  just 
the  man  to  occasion  unspeakable  confusion. 

Under  him,    the  Jesuits,  who   had  hitherto  been   only 

*  Gindely,  Rudolph  II.  Also  his  Geschichte  des  Bohmischen  Majes- 
tiitabriefes."  1858. 


RUDOLPH  II.  409 

tolerated,  came  into  power.  They  got  possession  of  his  ear 
and  conscience,  were  his  confessors,  directors,  and  ministers. 

During  the  greater  part  of  his  life  Rudolph  lived  in  retire- 
ment at  Prague,  mostly  occupied  with  learned  fancies.  Now 
and  then  breaking  out  into  unbridled  excesses,  then  repent- 
ing like  a  child,  and  submitting  to  his  Jesuit  confessors ; 
one  day  interfering  with  tyrannical  temper,  the  next  broken- 
spirited,  dejected,  and  apathetic ;  his  was  a  character  well 
adapted  to  set  a  ferment  going  which  should  shake  the 
empire  to  its  depths.  At  first  Protestantism  made  all  the 
more  progress  during  these  contradictory  tactics. 

The  Emperor's  incompetence  to  rule  soon  led  to  real 
difficulties,  which  the  States  could  only  get  over  by  formally 
entrusting  the  guidance  of  business  to  Matthias,  Rudolph's 
brother,  in  April,  1606.  To  secure  some  support  against  the 
Emperor's  revenge,  the  Regent  felt  himself  obliged  to  make 
great  concessions  to  the  Austrian  Protestants,  and  especially 
to  grant  liberty  of  religious  worship  to  the  burgher  class. 

This  example  spread.  Even  under  the  clement  Maxi- 
milian the  Bohemians  had  only  enjoyed  limited  religious 
liberty.  They  now  extorted  from  the  weak  Emperor  the  most 
liberal  religious  edict  issued  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
This  was  the  Bohemian  Royal  Charter  (Majestatsbrief)  of 
nth  July,  1609,  which  contained  the  following  regula- 
tions : — 

All  adherents,  without  exception,  oi"  the  Confession  de- 
livered to  the  Emperor  Maximilian  in  1575,  the  associated 
States,  lords,  nobles,  the  city  c  Prague,  the  mining  and 
other  towns,  are  granted  complete  liberty  in  the  exercise  of 
their  religion  in  every  place;  they  will  not  be  interfered 
with  in  their  faith,  religion,  priesthood,  or  Church  order, 
until  there  is  an  entirely  uniform  religion  in  the  Holy 
Empire.  The  government  ot  the  Protestant  churches  is  to 
be  in  the  hands  of  a  special  consistory  at  Prague  ;  they  are 
to  be  protected  by  their  own  advocates,  to  be  nominated  by 
the  Protestants,  as  are  also  the  officers  in  the  universities ; 
the  appointments  are  merely  to  be  confirmed  by  the  Em- 
peror, but  no  instructions  are  to  be  received  from  him.  The 
erection  of  new  churches  and  schools  is  freely  permitted  to 
every  Protestant  community  in  town  and  country,  as  well  as 
to  every  one  in  the  States.  No  one,  not  even  the  Emperor, 
has  any  right  to  interfere  with  these  liberties ;  any  proceed- 
ings against  them  are  null  and  void.  Disputes  are  to  be 


410  THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE   FROM    1555   TO    1618. 

adjusted  by  a  court  of  umpires,  composed  of  parties  from 
both  sides,  not  of  imperial  officials. 

In  the  following  month  a  simijar  charter  was  granted  to 
the  Silesians,  only  that  it  was  still  more  expressly  stated 
that  all  and  every  inhabitant  of  the  country,  whether  the 
subjects  of  temporal  or  spiritual  rulers,  should  have  free 
permission  to  enjoy  their  own  religious  worship. 

The  effect  produced  by  the  religious  strife  in  a  diversified 
imperial  body  was  different  from  what  it  would  have  been 
in  the  simple  relations  of  a  national  State.  There  was  very 
little  feeling  of  a  united  Austrian  existence  in  the  separate 
dependencies  ;  the  misgovernment  of  Rudolph  II.  was  not 
calculated  to  produce  it,  and  the  religious  discord  re- 
awakened the  slumbering  national  and  political  differences. 
In  Bohemia  the  idea  was  never  far  distant  of  again  electing 
a  sovereign  for  itself;  in  Moravia  and  Silesia  tendencies 
to  separation  were  becoming  evident.  Hungary  also  was 
uneasy ;  even  in  the  German  hereditary  dominions  the 
Hapsburg  dynasty  never  enjoyed  so  little  popularity  as 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  ;  the  monarchy  was 
altogether  out  of  joint,  and  was  threatened  with  dissolution. 

Meanwhile  parties  had  become  more  sharply  opposed  to 
each  other.  The  race  of  the  more  clement  German  princes 
had  died  out ;  the  sectarian  spirit  in  both  camps  had  greatly 
increased  and  had  inflamed  men's  passions.  The  Jesuits 
had  made  two  great  conquests  in  Ferdinand  of  Styria  and 
Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  and  this  hastened  the  crisis. 

But  little  more  than  the  existing  hatred  and  discontent 
was  required  to  bring  about  a  sanguinary  conflict,  and 
during  the  early  years  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  cause 
was  to  arise  in  Germany  as  well  as  in  the  Austrian  here- 
ditary States. 

DUKE  MAXIMILIAN  OF  BAVARIA  AND  THE  IMPERIAL  CITY 
OF  DONAUWORTH,*  1606-7. — THE  UNION,  1608,  AND  THE 
LEAGUE,  1609.— DEATH  OF  RUDOLPH  II.— MATTHIAS, 
1612-19. 

Among  the  numerous  infringements  of  the  Peace  of 
Augsburg,  the  most  dangerous  and  malicious  was  that  which 
occurred  in  the  imperial  city  of  Donauworth  in  1606-7. 

*  Lossen,  Die  Reichstadt  Donauworth  und  Herzog  Maximilian. 
Munich,  1866.  Cornelius.  Zur  Geschichte  der  Grundung  der  Liga. 
Historisches  Jahrbuch,  1865.  Ritter,  Geschichte  der  Union,  1868. 


TAKING   OF   DOXAUWORTH.  411 

Donauworth  was  a  Lutheran  imperial  city,  in  which,  after 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  no  Roman  Catholic  was 
admitted  as  a  citizen.  It  had  a  Catholic  monastery,  which 
was  tolerated  on  the  express  condition  that  no  procession 
with  banners  should  be  allowed  within  the  city. 

The  abbot  and  his  monks  found  this  inconvenient,  and 
disobeyed  the  order  several  times.  The  council  warned 
them  in  vain,  and  when,  in  April,  1606,  a  solemn  procession 
with  banners  again  proceeded  through  the  city,  the  rabble 
fell  upon  them  with  clubs  and  drove  them  back  into  the 
monastery. 

Many  scenes  of  this  sort  had  happened  in  the  empire, 
and  some  more  glaring  than  this,  but  they  resulted  in 
nothing  but  a  vast  amount  of  scribbling,  quarrelling,  and 
complaining.  But  this  time  it  was  otherwise. 

Duke  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  interfered  in  the  matter, 
first  on  his  own  account,  and  then  armed  with  an  imperial 
execution.  He  was  a  fanatical  pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  who  at 
the  beginning  of  his  reign  had  taken  vigorous  proceedings 
against  the  heretics,  and  the  Lutheran  city  had  long  been  a 
thorn  in  his  side.  As  his  first  interference  produced  no 
effect,  he  turned  to  the  imperial  court  of  Prague,  where, 
according  to  credible  testimony,  everything  was  to  be  done 
with  money  ;  even  the  tardy  imperial  justice  overcome. 

With  astonishing  rapidity,  in  August,  1607,  an  imperial 
mandate  of  execution  appeared,  which  Duke  Maximilian 
was  empowered  to  enforce. 

With  an  army  outnumbering  the  population  of  the  city  by 
two  thousand,  he  feared  intervention  from  the  Protestant 
States,  especially  from  the  Elector  Palatine — he  advanced 
to  the  city,  took  it  without  a  blow,  and  began,  with  those 
means  so  dear  to  religious  reaction,  to  convert  it  to  Catho- 
licism. At  first  all  that  they  desired  was  a  place  where  the 
Catholic  officials  and  soldiers  might  attend  service ;  then  to 
possess  half  the  churches,  then  all  of  them,  and  when  that 
was  refused  they  quartered  soldiers  on  the  faithful  inhabit- 
ants until  they  should  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the 
Romish  faith. 

The  blow  struck  by  the  Duke  against  the  imperial 
Swabian  city  in  the  midst  of  peace,  made  an  immense 
sensation.  It  was  illegal  to  proceed  with  the  execution  of 
the  imperial  ban,  for  the  electors  had  not  been  consulted  ; 
and  it  was  an  open  offence  to  the  Protestant  States  to  com- 


412   THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE  FROM    1555  TO    1 6 1 8. 

mil  it  to  a  prince  who  did  not  belong  to  Swabia,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  military  importance  of  the  city  as  a  pass  of 
the  Danube  and  a  frontier  town  between  Swabia,  Bavaria, 
and  Franconia. 

The  Protestant  States  of  South  Germany,  the  Electoral 
Palatinate,  Wiirtemburg  and  Neuburg  at  their  head,  agreed 
to  maintain  a  united  attitude  at  the  next  Diet.  There  it 
came  to  a  violent  dispute  and  complete  division.  Duke 
Maximilian  revealed  continually  more  openly  that  he  cared 
less  about  the  affair  at  Donauworth  as  a  victory  of  the  good 
cause,  than  as  a  conquest  of  the  country  and  people.  The 
violent  acts  of  Ferdinand  against  the  Protestants  in  Styria 
did  all  they  could  to  increase  the  excitement ;  so  on  May 
4th,  1608,  a  union  of  a  number  of  Protestant  princes  took 
place  for  mutual  protection  against  further  infringements  of 
the  constitution. 

The  first  to  sign  it  were  Frederic,  Elector  of  the  Palati- 
nate ;  Philip  Louis,  Count  Palatine  of  Neuburg ;  the  Mar- 
graves Christian  of  Culmbach,  Joachim  of  Anspach,  John 
Frederic  of  Baden-Durlach,  and  John  Frederic,  Duke  of 
Wiirtemburg.  Only  a  part  of  the  Protestant  princes  joined 
in  it,  and  therein  lay  a  foolish  and  fatal  error.  Not  that 
grounds  of  complaint  or  incitements  to  opposition  measures 
were  wanting;  but  they  should  have  thought  twice  whether 
it  would  not  further  the  breach  of  the  peace  if  their  camp 
were  openly  divided  into  two  parties,  and  they  should  not 
have  formed  a  league  which  was,  as  it  were,  still-born — for  so 
it  was,  since  all  Protestants  did  not  join  in  it.  Because  the 
Electoral  Palatinate  was  at  the  head,  Saxony  held  aloof 
and  stirred  up  enmity  against  it ;  even  those  who  did  join 
in  it  were  not  all  agreed. 

The  answer  to  this  was  the  Catholic  League  of  July  10, 
1609,  formed  by  Duke  Max,  the  Archduke  Leopold  of 
Austria,  the  Bishops  of  Wiirzburg,  Ratisbon,  Augsburg, 
Constance,  Strasburg,  Passau,  and  several  abbots,  for 
the  protection  of  the  imperial  laws,  but  also — there  was  no 
mention  of  religion  in  the  documents  of  the  Union — for 
the  protection  of  the  Catholic  religion  and  its  adherents. 

The  League  was  a  union  only  in  name  ;  it  was  in  reality 
the  creation  and  tool  of  an  energetic  and  resolute  prince, 
who  knew  how  to  make  the  ecclesiastical  princes  of  South 
Germany  understand  that  the  question  for  them  was  to  be 
or  not  to  be,  and  that  therefore  they  must  put  their  hands 


THE   UNION  AND  THE   LEAGUE.  413 

in  their  pockets.  Duke  Max  created  an  excellent  army  out 
of  the  means  of  the  League,  of  Bavarians  commanded  by 
Bavarian  leaders.  He  had  some  tolerably  extensive  projects 
in  view ;  we  have  memoirs  from  which  it  appears  that  he 
tried  to  obtain  the  co-operation  of  Spain  and  the  Pope.  It 
is  noteworthy,  on  the  contrary,  that  he  systematically  aimed 
to  form  the  League  without  the  help  of  Austria.  He  pro- 
jected, as  has  been  remarked  even  on  the  Catholic  side,  a 
little  Catholic  Germany  under  Bavarian  hegemony,  as  a 
closer  league  in  alliance  with  Austria. 

The  League  had  some  significance.  It  had  a  head,  and 
an  army  which  could  take  up  arms  at  the  first  moment  of 
alarm.  The  Union  had  neither,  and  would  probably  fall  to 
the  ground  from  internal  weakness. 

Any  accident  might  furnish  the  pretext  for  a  tremendous 
war.  This  was  the  opportunity  sagaciously  chosen  by 
Henry  IV.  to  interfere  in  German  affairs.  His  death  post- 
poned the  struggle. 

Meanwhile  disorder  was  increasing  in  the  hereditary 
Hapsburg  dominions.  Opposition  to  attempts  at  forcible 
conversions  grew  to  open  revolts.  Rudolph  was  quite  in- 
competent to  allay  the  storm.  His  relatives  met  together, 
and  in  consequence  of  his  "  weakness  of  mind  " — so  it  was 
said  in  a  treaty  with  Hungary — appointed  his  brother 
Matthias  his  guardian.  He  was  a  man  without  character, 
pushed  forward  by  vain  ambition,  who  always  succeeded  in 
fomenting  discontent,  never  in  allaying  it. 

He  played  with  fire,  incited  the  people  against  his 
brother,  entered  into  conspiracy  with  the  malcontents  in 
Hungary,  Moravia,  and  German  Austria  against  the 
Emperor,  deprived  him  of  his  lands  and  crown,  and  yet 
was  too  weak  to  quell  the  revolt  of  the  States. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  events  took  place  which  seemed  to 
make  the  dissolution  of  the  Imperial  States  probable.  In 
the  hereditary  dominions  Rudolph  was  deposed  in  Hungary. 
He  had  to  delegate  the  administration  to  Matthias.  He 
tried  to  keep  a  hold  on  the  Bohemians  by  means  of  the 
Royal  Charter,  but  even  they  revolted,  and  threw  themselves 
into  the  arms  of  the  leaders  of  the  opposition,  who  pro- 
mised them  still  more.  On  the  2oth  January,  1612,  he 
died,  a  landless  prince,  worn  out  by  madness  and  disease, 
deprived  of  all  his  crowns. 

The  seven  years'  reign  of  the  Emperor  Matthias  (1612-19) 


4H  THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE  FROM    1555   TO    1618. 

was  the  bitterest  chastisement  for  himself.  He  had  to  learr. 
that  it  is  an  easier  task  to  ruin  a  weak  ruler,  amidst  general 
revolt,  than  to  master  the  spirits  that  he  has  called  up. 
Rudolph  just  escaped  from  the  crisis  without  bloodshed, 
but  the  flames  of  civil  war  were  to  close  round  the  head  of 
his  successor.  He  also  shared  Rudolph's  fate.  The  Arch- 
dukes appointed  a  guardian  for  him  in  the  person  of  Ferdi- 
nand of  Styria,  and  when  he  died  Bohemia  and  Austria 
were  in  open  rebellion. 

Ferdinand  began  his  government  in  Bohemia  with  a 
crying  infringement  of  the  Charter,  by  closing  the  churches 
at  Braunau,  and  destroying  those  at  Klostergrab.  In  May, 
1618,  the  insurrection  broke  out  at  Prague.  The  hated 
imperial  ministers,  Martinitz  and  Slavata,  were  thrown  out 
of  window,  "  according  to  good  old  Bohemian  custom,"  as 
was  said  by  one  of  the  nobles  present ;  a  sort  of  provisional 
government  was  established,  and  an  army  taken  into  pay. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  on 
the  same  heights  where  an  end  was  put  to  the  winter 
kingdom,  the  contending  parties  afterwards  exchanged 
their  last  shots. 


PART  VIII. 

FIRST  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR.— THE 
BOHEMIAN,  PALATINATE,  AND  DANISH  WARS, 
1620-29. 


CHAPTER    XXXII.* 

First  Acts  of  Ferdinand  II.,  from  March,  1619. — His  Character  and 
Education. — Beginning  of  his  Reign  in  Revolutionary  Austria. — 
Election  of  Emperor,  August,  1619. — The  Winter  Kingdom  of 
Frederick  V.,  and  the  War  in  Bohemia. — The  Battle  of  Weissen- 
berg,  near  Prague,  8th  November,  1620. — The  Catholic  Reaction 
in  Bohemia  and  the  Palatinate,  1621. 

FIRST  ACTS  OF  FERDINAND  II. — CHARACTER  AND  EDU- 
CATION.— BEGINNING  OF  HIS  REIGN  IN  REVOLUTIONARY 
AUSTRIA. — ELECTION  OF  EMPEROR,  AUGUST,  1619. 

EVER  since  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
all  those  differences — national,  political,  and  religious 
— had  been  stirred  up  in  Austria  on  the  suppression  of 
which  the  ingenious  construction  of  the  empire  depended. 

*  General  literature.  Besides  that  before  mentioned,  Khevenhiller's 
Annales  Ferdinandei.  Leipzig,  1716.  Theatrum  Europaeum.  Frank- 
fort, 1632.  Galeazzo  Gualdo  Priorato,  Historia  di  Ferdinando  III.  T.  I. 
Londorp,  Acta  publica.  Menzel.  Leon.  Pappus  ep.  rer.  germ,  ed 
Arndts.  1856.  Senkenberg's  Fortsetzung  von  Hiiberlin's  Reichs- 
geschichte.  Mailath,  Geschichte  des  Osterreich.  Kaiserstaats,  1837. 
Mebold,  der  dreisigjahrige  Krieg.  1840.  Soltl,  der  Religionskrieg 
in  Deutschland.  Hamburg,  1839. — Up  to  1830,  Wolf,  Geschichte  der 
Kurfursten  Maximilian  Herausg.  von  Breyer,  1807.  Von  Aretin, 
Geschichte  Maximilians,  Passau.  1842.  The  same:  Baiern's  Aus- 
wartige  Verbaltnisse,  Passau.  1839.  Von  Rommel,  Geschichte  von 
Hessen.  Hausser,  Geschichte  der  Pfalz.  Miiller,  K.  A.  f  iinf  Biicher 
vom  Bohmischen  Kriege.  Leipzig,  1841.  Peschek,  Geschichte  der 
Gegen  Reformation  in  Bohmen.  Leipzig,  1844.  V.  d.  Decken  Geo.  v. 
Braunschweig  und  Liineburg.  Villermont,  Comte  de  Tilly,  1859. 
Erdmannsdorfer,  C.  E.  v.  Savoyen.  1861. 


41 6     FIRST  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'    WAR. 

This  unusual  situation  required  unusual  measures.  In  order 
to  render  Rudolph's  weakness  innocuous,  the  family  council 
of  the  Archdukes  met  together  and  appointed  Matthias 
regent ;  and  as  he  also  proved  incompetent,  similar  measures 
were  adopted  in  his  case. 

In  going  through  the  ranks  of  the  Archdukes,  Ferdinand 
of  Styria  was  the  most  distinguished.  He  was  the  son  of 
Duke  Charles  of  Styria,  and  cousin  to  Matthias.  He  cer- 
tainly had  not  the  first  claim ;  but  of  those  who  stood  before 
him  several  were  ecclesiastics,  others  childless,  so  that  the 
family  agreed  to  depute  him  as  the  most  suitable  to  take 
upon  himself  the  cares  of  empire. 

Ferdinand  was  one  of  the  first  pupils  of  the  Jesuits 
among  the  German  princes,  and  grew  up  a  thorough  disciple 
of  the  society  in  his  ideas  and  aims,  was  adapted  rather  for 
the  pulpit  or  the  confessional  than  the  throne,  and  early 
bound  by  fanatical  vows  the  fulfilment  of  which  probably  gave 
him  more  trouble  than  he  anticipated.  He  had  early  vowed  to 
use  all  possible  means  to  exterminate  heresy,  and  was  resolved 
rather  to  reign  over  a  desert  than  over  a  heretical  country. 

This  was  fearfully  fulfilled,  for  he  did  indeed  leave  a 
desert  behind  him,  in  which,  nevertheless,  heresy  was  not 
quite  extirpated. 

He  was  one  of  those  characters  who  in  the  hands  of  the 
priests  are  capable  of  terrible  things  ;  he  was  destitute  of 
bold  and  original  ideas,  but  was  one  of  those  quiet  souls 
who  hold  to  the  creed  of  their  adoption  at  the  peril  of  their 
lives,  and  are  ready  to  sacrifice  for  it  all  that  has  hitherto 
been  dear  to  them.  He  was  more  fit  for  the  pupil  of  a 
college  of  priests,  than  for  the  task  of  ruling  this  great  crisis 
in  a  conciliatory  spirit,  and  of  closing  the  abyss  of  civil  war. 

Almost  the  whole  of  the  empire  was  a  prey  to  heresy 
and  revolt.  When  in  1596  he  began  to  reign  in  Styria, 
Carinthia,  and  Carniola,  it  was  with  the  determination  to 
subjugate  all  enemies  of  the  true  faith  and  absolutism,  and 
his  country  was  the  only  monarchy  where  this  plan  suc- 
ceeded. He  declared  that  he  would  rather  beg,  or  be  cut 
in  pieces,  than  submit  to  heresy  any  longer.  Catholic 
priests  were  sent  to  the  Protestant  peasantry,  and  when 
they  rebelled  they  were  brought  to  submission  by  force. 
He  who  was  not  converted  within  a  certain  time  was 
obliged  to  emigrate ;  schools  and  churches  were  razed  to 
the  ground;  many  thousands  of  Bibles  and  books  of  sermons 


FERDINAND  II.  417 

were  burnt ;  the  rebellious  people  were  treated  with  banish- 
ment, dragoonades,  and  the  gallows  ;  and  when  the  unhappy 
creatures  appealed  to  the  ordinances  of  Maximilian  II.,  they 
were  told  that  rulers  were  not  bound  by  pernicious  charters. 

In  his  private  life  Ferdinand  appears  to  have  led  a 
simple,  strictly  moral  life.  His  character,  though  narrow 
and  rigid,  was  not  cruel — at  least  not  from  brutal  lust  of 
power.*  As  to  what  is  adduced  by  his  defenders,  that  he 
shed  tears  at  the  execution  of  the  cruelties  he  ordained,  I 
believe  that  he  considered  these  victims  to  be  demanded  by 
his  faith — that  he  was  a  genuine  fanatic,  who  would  have  given 
his  life  could  he  have  reclaimed  all  heretics  with  one  blow. 

The  broad  views  of  a  ruler  who  is  above  all  parties,  and 
gives  every  one  his  due  in  his  own  sphere,  were  in  those 
days  the  privilege  of  a  few  superior  men,  like  William  of 
Orange  and  Henry  IV.  Ferdinand  was  utterly  destitute  of 
them,  and  his  education  had  taught  him  to  look  upon  all 
toleration  of  this  sort  as  an  attack  upon  religion. 

The  previous  policy,  therefore,  first  of  toleration,  and 
afterwards  of  weakness,  was  regarded  by  him  as  the  greatest 
evil ;  and  the  close  connection  which  then  existed  in 
Austria  between  heresy  and  all  tendencies  to  political 
liberty  and  national  disintegration  conduced  to  confirm  the 
view  that,  as  guardian  of  the  unity  of  the  empire,  he  must 
place  himself  in  an  attitude  of  defence  against  a  dangerous 
revolt,  f 

The  first  person,  therefore,  to  be  deprived  of  all  influence 
was  Cardinal  Klesel,  in  whom  Ferdinand  saw  weakness  and 
half  measures  personified. 

*  From  a  manuscript  of  800  pages,  in  the  Bibl.  Royale  (Mss.  fr.  N. 
964,  St.  Victor),  containing  notes  by  the  Papal  Nuncio  of  an  eight  years' 
sojourn  in  Germany,  Hausser  quotes  the  following  passage  about  Fer- 
dinand:— "Ferdinand  II.,  en  £ge  de  cinquante  et  un  an,  de  mediocre 
stature,  de  forte  complexion,  de  poil  tirant  sur  le  roux,  d'agreable  pre- 
sence, affable  et  civil  envers  tout  le  monde.  II  boit  peu,  ne  dort  encore 
moins,  ayant  accoustume  de  se  coucher  a1  dix  heures  et  de  se  lever  a 
quatre  et  quelquefois  devant.  Quant  a  sa  piete  envers  notre  religion 
on  n'en  saurait  rien  dire  qui  ne  suit  au  dessous  de  la  verite.  Toutes  les 
fetes  solennelles  et  principalement  celle  des  douze  apotres,  il  frequente 
dans  sa  chapelle  les  ceremonies  de  confession  et  de  communion.  Le 
jeudi  saint  il  recoitla  communion  avec  1'Imperatrice  sonepouse  et  avec 
les  princes  ses  fils,  de  la  main  du  nonce  de  St.  Siege,  pour  apprendre  a 
ses  sujets  par  son  exemple  £  satisfaire  a  ce  commandement  de  1'Eglise," 
&c.— ED. 

f  See  the  declaration  made  to  the  Court  of  Spain  in  Khevenhiller 
and  the  letter  to  Philip  III.,  7th  September,  1609— Raumer,  Vol.  III. 

E  £ 


41 8    FIRST  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

Klesel  was  a  parvenu  of  the  lowest  kind,  with  all  the 
worst  characteristics  of  such  persons.  He  was  a  fawning 
courtier,  yet  had  a  strong  inclination  for  absolute  power; 
possessed  more  pliant  talent  than  strongly  marked  character, 
and  was  therefore  well  adapted  to  serve  a  man  like  Matthias 
as  adviser  and  tool.  He  maintained  a  policy  of  studied 
clemency  and  conciliation  ;  advised  every  country  to  yield 
as  much  as  possible,  as  this  was  in  accordance  with  the 
views  of  Matthias,  and  appeared  to  be  the  only  practicable 
plan.  Then  came  the  revolution  in  the  palace  ;  Klesel  was 
carried  off  one  morning  as  a  state  criminal  and  thrown  into 
prison,  because  he  had  pursued  a  policy  at  his  Emperor's 
side  which  was  abhorrent  to  the  archdukes. 

After  Klesel's  disgrace,  Ferdinand  became  the  leading 
man,  and  on  the  death  of  Matthias,  2oth  of  March,  1619, 
he  was  indisputably  the  next  heir  to  the  throne. 

He  came  to  Vienna  and  found  things  just  as  they  had 
once  been  in  Styria ;  the  whole  country  filled  with  Protest- 
antism ;  the  citizens,  the  nobles,  and  peasants  in  the 
country,  almost  all  openly  addicted  to  heresy.  Not  far 
from  Vienna  was  Count  Thurn  with  his  Bohemian  soldiers. 
Bethlen  Gabor  was  advancing  from  Hungary,  and  a  large 
party  in  the  capital  were  resolved  to  make  common  cause 
with  them.  The  Emperor's  life  was  scarcely  secure ;  com- 
motions took  place  like  those  at  Prague ;  armed  citizens 
forced  an  entry  into  the  palace  to  demand  religious  liberty. 
The  leaders  shook  him  by  the  doublet,  exclaiming :  "  Nandel, 
give  in  ;  thou  must  sign."  It  nearly  came  to  establishing  a 
provisional  government  over  him,  and  had  the  rebels  been 
daring  enough  they  might  have  seized  his  person. 

In  these  times  of  distress,  Ferdinand  comported  himself 
like  a  man ;  a  storm  had  to  be  braved  before  which  many 
would  have  quailed.  He  did  brave  it,  and,  like  many  other 
people  in  history,  he  found  it  easier  to  bear  misfortune  than 
success. 

A  happy  chance — the  timely  arrival  of  a  regiment  of 
cuirassiers — saved  the  Emperor  from  his  rebellious  people. 

Now  there  was  a  great  question  to  solve,  on  which  de- 
pended the  immediate  future  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg — the 
election  of  Emperor. 

The  imperial  dignity  no  longer  conferred  absolute  power ; 
it  brought  neither  an  army  nor  a  treasury.  If,  therefore, 
Ferdinand  reckoned  upon  defeating  the  rebels  in  Prague 


FERDINAND  II.  419 

and  Vienna  with  the  power  of  the  German  imperial  crown, 
he  was  mistaken. 

It  did  nevertheless  possess  some  significance.  There  are 
many  things  in  life  which  seem  worthless  when  we  have 
them,  but  which  it  is  an  immense  disadvantage  to  lose. 
This  was  the  case  with  the  imperial  dignity.  The  loss  of  it 
at  this  juncture  would  have  been  a  verdict  pronounced  upon 
the  house  of  Hapsburg  by  the  German  empire.  The  Czecks, 
Magyars,  Moravians,  Silesians,  the  inhabitants  of  Vienna 
themselves,  were  shaking  the  tottering  house,  especially 
Ferdinand's  authority.  Germany  was  the  last  straw,  the 
plank  to  which  the  sinking  hopes  of  the  Hapsburgs  were 
clinging.  Vienna  was  doubtful,  Bohemia  in  open  revolt, 
Moravia,  Silesia,  and  Hungary  not  far  from  it.  The  Tyrol 
and  Styria  were  not  sufficient  to  support  the  throne;  if 
Germany  forsook  it,  it  was  lost. 

If  the  Electors  chose  the  Archduke,  he  would  have 
something  to  hold  by ;  the  German  empire  at  any  rate  would 
have  shown  that  it  did  not  renounce  the  Hapsburgs. 
Never,  therefore,  were  they  more  desirous  that  the  election 
should  fall  on  their  house.  If  it  did  not,  the  house  must 
sink  into  the  abyss  of  revolution. 

For  the  German  empire  the  situation  was  different. 
The  interests  of  the  two  sides  were  at  variance.  If  Ferdi- 
nand were  elected,  the  empire  must  be  engulfed  in  the 
whirlpool  of  revolution  in  South  and  East  Germany.  It 
would  inherit  a  civil  war  which  would  suffice  to  ignite  all 
the  inflammable  materials  in  Germany.  The  state  of 
parties  in  the  empire  was  just  such  as  to  give  rise  to  fears 
of  a  dangerous  outbreak ;  how  would  it  be  if  the  uncom- 
promising fanatic  of  the  extreme  restoration  were  called  to 
the  head  of  affairs  ? 

Undoubtedly  had  there  been  at  that  time  a  prince  in 
Germany  worthy  of  the  dignity,  and  sufficiently  unbiassed 
in  religious  matters  to  give  both  parties  their  due,  his  elec- 
tion would  have  been  most  desirable,  and  might  perhaps 
have  spared  Germany  the  horrors  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 
But  there  was  not,  and  Germany  was  enguli'ed  in  a  most 
fearful  struggle. 

Ferdinand's  election  was  disputed  from  the  first,  for  the 
Bohemians  no  longer  acknowledged  him ;  but  this  was  of 
little  use  if  they  had  no  other  candidate.  The  impotence 
of  the  Union  came  to  light ;  the  Protestants  were  divided 


420     FIRST  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

within  and  without :  they  abhorred  the  idea  of  a  Jesuit 
Emperor,  but  had  only  empty  ranks  and  impracticable 
proposals  to  oppose  to  him.  In  the  meddling  Palatinate,  the 
candidateship  to  the  imperial  dignity  was,  as  it  were,  hawked 
about  the  streets,  and  yet  there  were  no  bidders. 

Scarcely  escaped  from  the  attack  of  the  Bohemians, 
Ferdinand  came  to  Frankfort  through  the  enemy's  country, 
to  the  election. 

After  six  months  of  angry  negotiation  and  correspond- 
ence, they  had  not  even  agreed  in  the  Protestant  camp 
upon  a  protest  against  Ferdinand  as  a  candidate,  though  he 
had  been  declared  to  be  disqualified  by  the  Bohemians,  so 
that  when  the  day  of  election  came,  his  victory  was  as  good 
as  decided.  It  was  the  first  step  out  of  the  crisis  by  which 
Austria  had  so  long  been  convulsed. 

Had  it  been  previously  known  that  just  when  the  elec- 
tors were  announcing  Ferdinand's  election,  the  Bohemians 
had  gone  a  step  further,  had  deposed  King  Ferdinand  and 
proclaimed  a  new  election,  they  would  perhaps  have  recon- 
sidered the  subject,  or  at  any  rate  have  put  off  the  election. 
But  it  was  now  too  late;  the  electors  had  to  submit  to  the 
logic  of  facts  which  they  had  themselves  helped  to  bring  to 
pass. 

THE   WINTER    KINGDOM    AND    THE   WAR  IN    BOHEMIA, 
1619-22. — BATTLE  OF  PRAGUE,  STH  NOVEMBER,  1620. 

The  choice  of  the  Bohemians  during  the  same  days  of 
August  fell  upon  the  head  of  the  Union,  the  Elector  Pala- 
tine Frederic  V.,  because,  so  it  was  stated,  "  he  is  a  very 
discreet  gentleman,  possessing  great  qualities,  and  is  ac- 
quainted with  divers  languages,"  because  "  he  has  a  power- 
ful and  well-trained  people,  and  is  in  alliance  with  great 
foreign  powers,  England,  Holland,  and  Switzerland."  In 
Bohemia,  they  knew  neither  the  internal  weakness  of  the 
Union  nor  the  untrustworthiness  of  its  foreign  allies ;  they 
believed  in  it,  and  looked  for  help  from  it  which  it  could 
never  afford. 

Frederic  V.  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Stuart,  a  daughter 
of  James  V.  The  marriage  had  been  hailed  with  joy  in 
England,  as  a  family  alliance  between  the  still  suspicious 
English  king  and  the  leader  of  German  Protestantism,  and 
Parliament  was  afterwards  always  ready  to  send  subsidies  to 


THE  WINTER  KINGDOM.  421 

the  Elector.  This  connection  with  England  had  great 
weight  with  the  Bohemians. 

The  Elector  vacillated  a  long  time ;  and  when  he  did 
arrive  at  a  decision,  it  was  not,  as  has  been  long  supposed, 
the  result  of  his  wife's  influence,  but  of  other  things.  He 
was  personally  a  very  insignificant  ruler — amiable  in  pri- 
vate life,  a  patron  of  artists  and  learned  men,  but  wholly 
incompetent  for  grave  political  business,  to  say  nothing  of 
undertaking  a  great  venture  ;  he  was  always  dependent  on 
the  advice  of  others,  and  was  not  a  man  who,  in  critical 
moments,  would  resolve  to  stake  everything,  as  was  neces- 
sary in  such  a  situation.  He  was  influenced  by  ambition 
not  to  give  up  the  leadership  which  had  been  for  a  genera- 
tion in  his  family,  by  the  hope  of  aid  from  England,  and  in 
great  part  by  the  help  of  a  number  of  people  who  then 
ruled  the  policy  of  the  Palatinate — landless  princes,  younger 
sons  of  younger  brothers.  Such  an  one  among  oi'.iers  who 
eagerly  advised  him  to  accept  the  crown  was  Christian  of 
Anhalt ;  then  came  the  suggestions  of  the  clever  but  mis- 
guided Ludwig  Camerarius,  and  the  Calvinist  confessor 
Scultetus.* 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  at  the  end  of  October,  1619, 
"  the  Palatinate  went  to  Bohemia." 

Frederic  V.  hoped  to  find  strength  in  Bohemia,  and  the 
Bohemians  hoped  for  strength  from  him.  But  he  found 
only  a  Sclavonian  revolution,  uncontrollable  nobles,  and  a 
state  in  process  of  dissolution,  over  which  the  aristocracy 
wanted  to  rule  themselves.  Everybody  was  relying  upon 
somebody  else,  and  everybody  was  deserted. 

Bohemia  was  chiefly  ruled  by  the  Sclavonic  party,  at  the 
head  of  which  were  a  number  of  ambitious  nobles,  and  the 
majority  of  the  people  revelled  with  them  in  the  recollection 
of  the  national  monarchy  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  new 
King  at  once  ruined  his  cause  with  both  parties  :  with  the 
nobles,  because  he  would  not  listen  to  their  claims  to  take 
part  in  the  government,  and  only  followed  the  advice  of 
Anhalt  and  Camerarius ;  with  the  people,  by  his  singular 
way  of  life  and  Calvinistic  narrowness.  An  antiquated  and 
somewhat  pedantic  mode  of  life  prevailed  in  Bohemia,  and 
there  were  deeply-rooted  prejudices  against  the  licentious 
courts  of  those  days ;  but  the  young  Elector  Palatine  and 
his  whole  court  were  infected  with  French  frivolity  to  a 
*  Upon  this  section  see  Hausser,  Geschichte  der  Pfalz. — ED. 


422     FIRST  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

degree  which  could  not  but  offend  the  strict  views  of  the 
Bohemians.  Frederic's  demure  Calvinism  was  a  curious 
contrast  to  the  gallantry  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  court ; 
he  belonged  to  the  Reformed  party,  while  the  Bohemians 
were  Lutherans.  He  had,  indeed,  acknowledged  uncon- 
ditional religious  liberty  in  Bohemia ;  but  the  zealots  about 
him,  Scultetus  at  their  head,  would  not  rest  until,  in  the 
principal  church  at  Prague,  all  images,  pictures,  and  relics 
were  cleared  away,  and  the  beautiful  church  converted  into 
a  Calvinistic  meeting-house.  The  irritation  produced  by 
differences  of  creed  increased,  and  contributed  more  than 
anything  else  to  estrange  the  people  from  their  king.  They 
were  at  variance  in  language,  nationality,  manners,  and  creed. 
It  would  have  been  a  miracle  had  prosperity  ensued. 

Ferdinand  had  not  the  power  to  subject  Bohemia  by  force 
of  arms.  He  had  acquired  moral  importance  as  Emperor, 
but  the  dignity  did  not  provide  him  with  money  or  troops. 
He  was  therefore  compelled  to  throw  himself  into  the  arms 
of  the  League.  The  League  was  something  different  from 
the  Union ;  it  was  not  an  alliance  in  which  every  member 
laid  claim  to  many  rights,  and  owned  but  few  duties,  but  a 
united  organization  in  the  hands  of  an  energetic  martial 
prince,  whose  allies,  so  called,  had  only  to  provide  funds. 

The  League  now  became,  and  remained  for  several  years, 
the  leading  power  in  Germany. 

On  the  8th  of  October,  1619,  Ferdinand  concluded  a 
treaty  with  his  relative  and  the  friend  of  his  youth,  Max  of 
Bavaria,  in  which  the  latter  took  good  care  of  himself. 

It  provided  that  the  Duke  should  undertake  the  uncon- 
ditional and  exclusive  command  of  the  whole  proceedings 
against  the  rebellious  heretics  in  Austria,  Bohemia,  and 
Upper  Austria ;  this  last,  indeed,  had  first  to  be  taken  as 
security  for  indemnification  for  the  expenses  of  the  war.  In 
return,  Max  collected  all  his  forces  to  assist  the  deserted 
Emperor. 

In  1620  the  war  began.* 

*  In  March  of  the  new  year  the  "  Winter  King  "  had  addressed  a 
letter  to  Louis  XIII.  of  France,  asking  for  help,  which  Hausser  found 
and  made  extracts  from,  among  the  MSS.  of  the  Bibliotheque  Royale, 
entitled  "  Memoires  pour  1'Histoire  d'Allemagne  depuis  1619  jusqu'a 
1638."  It  is  dated  24th  March,  1620,  and  tries  to  prove  that  the 
threatened  war  was  entirely  political  and  by  no  means  religious  in  its 
character ;  see,  for  example,  the  following  passage : — "  Mes  actions 
aussy  bien  que  mes  declarations  monstrent  assez  que  je  n'ay  eu  la  pen^e, 


THE  WAR  IN  BOHEMIA.  423 

The  war  might  not  be  lost  if  only  it  were  rationally  carried 
on  in  Bohemia.  Money,  indeed,  was  wanting,  and  so  were 
efficient  troops;  but  neither  had  Max  any  superfluity  of 
means,  and  would  be  lost  unless  he  speedily  gained  a  de- 
cisive battle.  In  the  Bohemian  camp,  therefore,  it  was 
necessary  to  keep  strictly  to  the  defensive.  In  those  days, 
if  a  general  had  not  the  means  to  pay  his  troops,  there  was 
nothing  else  to  keep  them  together — neither  oath  nor  devo- 
tion to  any  person  nor  cause.  This  was  one  cause  of  the 
weakness  of  the  army  of  the  League,  and  it  suffered  also 
from  sickness,  in  consequence  of  the  bad  weather.  The 
army  must  have  been  dissolved  if,  on  the  Bohemian  side, 
they  had  known  how  to  avoid  a  battle  and  to  starve  the 
enemy  by  a  tedious  defensive  war. 

But  just  the  contrary  course  was  taken.  With  a  corps  of 
officers  who  caroused  in  camp  instead  of  doing  their  duty, 
and  ill-disciplined  troops,  they  faced  a  well-trained  army  one- 
third  greater  in  numbers.  On  the  5th  of  October,  Christian 
of  Anhalt  took  up  his  position  on  the  Weissenberg,  near 
Prague,  and  three  days  afterwards,  notwithstanding  his 
personal  bravery,  sustained  an  ignominious  defeat,  which 
decided  the  fate  of  the  Winter  Kingdom  in  an  hour. 

The  rebels  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  immediately  sub- 
mitted ;  Mansfeld  only  carried  on  a  hopeless  banditti  warfare 
lor  months  on  his  own  account.  Frederic  fled  to  Silesia  ;  at 
Breslau  appealed  to  the  Union  for  help,  and  tried  to  incite 
the  Protestant  States  of  the  country  to  oppose  the  reaction 
which,  as  he  truly  foretold,  would  take  place  against  the 
whole  of  Protestantism.  But  it  was  in  vain  ;  here  also  they 
submitted  to  the  victorious  Duke ;  that  one  battle  had 
ruined  the  cause.  Bohemia,  Moravia,  Silesia,  and  Lusatia 
again  belonged  to  the  prince  whom  they  had  deposed  a 
year  before.  The  Protestant  princes  watched  with  malicious 
satisfaction  the  flight  of  the  helpless  Winter  King,  who,  even 

moins  encore  la  volonte  de  faire  ou  permettre  estre  fait  aucun  desplaisir 
a  mes  subjects  de  la  religion  catholique  romaine  a  cause  de  la  dite 
religion,  qu'au  contraire  j'ay  et  auray  toujours  en  soin,  particulier  de 
les  prot6ger  egalement  avec  les  autres  sans  distinction."  Should  the 
war  really  break  out,  he  calls  to  mind  the  ancient  alliance  between  the 
Palatinate  and  Louis's  father,  and  begs  respectfully  "  qu'il  vous  plaise 
me  tendre  la  main  de  vostre  bonne  assistance  fondee'  sur  la  conhance 
que  j'ay  de  vostre  dicte  bienveillance,  et  sur  les  voeux  que  j'ay  fait  de 
conserver  inviolablement  1'afiection  heieditaire  que  je  porte  au  bien  de 
vosire  couronne." — ED. 


424     FIRST  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

among  his  own  relations,  scarcely  found  even  the  refuge  he 
needed,  to  say  nothing  of  succour. 

The  revolution  in  Bohemia  had  not  been  quelled  by 
Ferdinand,  but  by  the  League;  yet  the  victorious  cause  was 
common  to  both, — it  was  the  cause  of  ecclesiastical  restora- 
tion, of  conversion  by  means  of  Jesuits  and  soldiers. 

..No  foreign  intervention  was  to  be  feared  ;  the  hopes  of 
the  Winter  King,  of  help  from  abroad,  melted  like  spray  before 
the  wind ;  his  own  inheritance  soon  became  a  prey  to  the 
enemy ;  the  distribution  of  the  spoils  of  victory  could  begin. 
Upon  the  way  in  which  this  was  done,  it  depended  whether 
the  war,  which  had  hitherto  scarcely  been  a  German,  far  less 
a  European  one,  should  develope  into  one  of  world-wide 
importance. 

THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  REACTION  IN  BOHEMIA  AND  THE 
PALATINATE. 

The  dreaded  crisis  which  had  been  hanging  over  Ger- 
many for  decades  had  taken  place.  The  supremacy  of  the 
Emperor  was  decisively  pronounced.  One  of  the  leaders 
of  German  Protestantism  was  pitifully  defeated ;  it  was  a 
blow  which  could  not  but  be  severely  felt  by  all  German 
princes  ;  still,  it  was  far  yet  from  being  a  religious  war. 

If  Ferdinand  now  zealously  carried  out  the  Restoration 
in  Bohemia,  and  declared  that  the  charter  was  forfeited 
because  it  had  been  infringed  by  the  country  itself,  it  was 
no  more  than  could  be  expected.  It  was  but  revenge  for 
the  imprudent  policy  of  1619-20,  which  was  seen  through 
at  once  by  every  one  except  Frederic  V. — that  of  taking  the 
course  they  did  without  the  necessary  means. 

But  it  was  another  thing  to  show  Bohemia  who  was 
master  by  openly  proclaiming  the  system  of  forced  con- 
version, and  carrying  it  out  with  sanguinary  strictness.  This 
was  the  way  to  let  loose  the  religious  war,  and  to  give  occa- 
sion for  foreign  intervention. 

With  but  a  little  moderation,  Ferdinand  and  the  League 
might  have  obtained  an  easy  victory  in  his  own  country, 
and  yet  have  disarmed  suspicion  at  home  and  abroad.  But 
this  they  could  not  do.  Whether  the  fault  was  in  the 
times  or  in  their  personal  passions,  they  went  to  work 
rashly  and  inconsiderately,  and  the  war  ceased  to  be  a 
Bohemian  or  German,  and  became  a  European  one. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  REACTION.  425 

The  Protestant  Union  was  already  entirely  out  of  joint. 
When,  in  the  summer  of  1620,  Spinola  advanced  up  the 
Rhine  with  Spanish  soldiers,  the  Union  had  nothing  to 
oppose  to  them  but  an  absurd  reference  to  the  imperial  law 
which  forbade  the  presence  of  foreign  troops  in  Germany. 
This  was  before  the  catastrophe  to  their  brother  in  the  faith. 
When  afterwards  Ferdinand  appeared  with  the  defiance  of  a 
victor,  the  Union  was  dissolved,  submitted  ignominiously, 
and  the  empire  again  resounded  with  jeers  and  malicious  joy. 

On  the  2 Qth  of  January,  1621,  Ferdinand  had  pronounced 
the  unhappy  Frederic  under  the  ban  of  the  empire,  and 
appointed  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  to  execute  the  sentence. 
Of  all  the  forms  prescribed  by  the  constitution,  even  in 
cases  of  proved  guilt,  not  one  was  observed  ;  the  aggrieved 
person,  accuser  and  judge,  was  one  and  the  same  individual. 
After  this  beginning,  little  clemency  could  be  looked  for 
from  the  Emperor. 

In  June,  1621,  a  fearful  reign  of  terror  began  in  Bohemia,* 
with  the  execution  of  twenty-seven  of  the  most  distinguished 
heretics.  For  years  the  unhappy  people  bled  under  it ; 
thousands  were  banished,  and  yet  Protestantism  was  not 
fully  exterminated.  The  charter  was  cut  into  shreds  by  the 
Emperor  himself;  there  could  be  no  forbearance  towards 
"  such  acknowledged  rebels."  As  a  matter  of  course,  the 
Lutheran  preaching  was  forbidden  under  the  heaviest 
penalties  ;  heretical  works,  Bibles  especially,  were  taken 
away  in  heaps.  Jesuit  colleges,  churches,  and  schools  came 
into  power ;  but  this  was  not  all. 

A  large  number  of  distinguished  Protestant  families  were 
deprived  of  their  property,  and,  as  if  that  were  not  enough, 
it  was  decreed  that  no  non-Catholic  could  be  a  citizen,  nor 
carry  on  a  trade,  enter  into  marriage,  nor  make  a  will ;  any 
one  who  harboured  a  Protestant  preacher  forfeited  his  pro- 
perty ;  whoever  permitted  Protestant  instruction  to  be  given 
was  to  be  fined,  and  whipped  out  of  the  town  ;  the  Protestant 
poor  who  were  not  converted  were  to  be  driven  out  of  the 
hospitals,  and  to  be  replaced  by  Catholic  poor;  he  who 
gave  free  expression  to  his  opinions  about  religion  was  to 
be  executed.  In  1624  an  order  was  issued  to  all  preachers 
and  teachers  to  leave  the  country  within  eight  days,  under 
pain  of  death ;  and  finally,  it  was  ordained  that  whoever 

*  See  Reuss,  La  Destruction  du  Protestantisme  en  Boheme.  Stras- 
burg,  1867. 


426     FIRST  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

had  not  become  Catholic  by  Easter,  1626,  must  emigrate. 
Light  and  air,  the  simplest  rights  of  man  in  a  state,  were 
denied  to  the  Protestants.  But  the  real  conversions  were 
few  ;  thousands  quietly  remained  true  to  their  faith ;  other 
thousands  wandered  as  beggars  into  foreign  lands  ;  more 
than  thirty  thousand  Bohemian  families,  and  among  them 
five  hundred  belonging  to  the  aristocracy,  went  into  banish- 
ment. Exiled  Bohemians  were  to  be  found  in  every 
country  of  Europe,  and  were  not  wanting  in  any  of  the 
armies  that  fought  against  Austria. 

Those  who  could  not  or  would  not  emigrate,  held  to  their 
faith  in  secret.  Against  them  dragoonades  were  employed. 
Detachments  of  soldiers  were  sent  into  the  various  districts 
to  torment  the  heretics  till  they  were  converted.  The 
"Converters"  (Seligmacher)  went  thus  throughout  all  Bo- 
hemia, plundering  and  murdering.  There  were  sanguinary 
revolts ;  in  some  places  they  lortified  and  defended  them- 
selves to  the  uttermost.  No  succour  reached  the  unfortu- 
nate people;  but  neither  did  the  victors  attain  their  end. 
Protestantism  and  the  Hussite  memories  could  not  be  slain, 
and  only  outward  submission  was  extorted.  Striking  proof 
of  this  appeared  when  Joseph  II.  published  his  Edict  of 
Toleration  ;  and  a  respectable  Protestant  party  exists  to 
this  day  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  But  a  desert  was 
created ;  the  land  was  crushed  for  a  generation.  Before 
the  war  Bohemia  had  4,000,000  inhabitants,  and  in  1648 
there  were  but  700,000  or  800,000. 

These  figures  appear  preposterous,  but  they  are  certified 
by  Bohemian  historians.  In  some  parts  of  the  country  the 
population  has  not  attained  the  standard  of  1620  to  this  day. 

As  early  as  the  summer  of  1622,  the  imperial  policy 
made  way  for  itself  into  the  inheritance  of  the  "  Winter 
King  "  by  an  unparalleled  piece  of  villainy. 

A  certain  degree  of  unity  and  spirit  had  been  introduced 
into  the  planless  banditti  warfare  which  the  adventurer 
Mansfeld  and  the  chivalrous  Colonel  Obertraut  had  been 
carrying  on  in  the  Upper  and  Lower  Palatinate  against 
Spain  and  Bavaria  since  the  summer  of  1621,  when  in  April, 
1622,  the  outlawed  Elector  Frederic  suddenly  appeared 
among  his  faithful  subjects  in  the  Palatinate. 

The  brave  Margrave,  George  Frederic  of  Baden,  joined 
Mansfeld  with  a  splendid  troop,  and  obtained  a  brilliant 
victory  over  the  Bavarians  under  Tilly  at  Wiesloch.  In 
spite  of  the  defeat  of  the  Margrave  at  Wimpfen  in  May,  and 


CATHOLIC   REACTION  IN  BOHEMIA.  427 

of  the  wild  Christian  of  Brunswick,  near  Hochst,  in  June, 
Frederic  V.  had  in  Alsace  a  strong  and  valiant  army,  when, 
from  his  love  of  peace  and  confidence  in  his  father-in-law, 
James  I.,  who  was  himself  deceived,  the  unwary  youth 
allowed  himself  to  be  ensnared  by  perfidious  negotiations — 
first,  to  suspend  hostilities,  and  then  to  dismiss  his  army, 
in  order,  as  the  diplomatic  deceiver  said,  that  peace  might 
be  made. 

Now  that  the  Palatinate  was  laid  open,  and  the  Elector 
disarmed,  Tilly,  who,  at  the  first  news  of  Frederic's  arrival, 
had  given  up  the  siege  of  the  Dilsberg,  could  complete  the 
subjugation  of  the  Palatinate  in  peace.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  only  with  great  difficulty  that  Heidelberg  was  taken  in 
September,  and  Mannheim  in  November,  while  the  garrison 
of  Frankenthal  defended  themselves  successfully  against 
him.  With  the  Bavarian  soldiers,  who  here,  as  everywhere, 
behaved  with  great  barbarity,  came  the  Jesuits  to  destroy 
this  nest  of  Calvinism.  The  Reformed  ministers  were 
driven  away,  and  were  replaced  by  priests  and  monks ;  the 
flourishing  university  was  closed,  and  the  treasures  of  its 
world-renowned  library  dragged  in  fifty  waggons  to  Rome. 
The  conversion  of  this  out-and-out  Protestant  people  was 
begun  with  a  certain  moderation,  but  afterwards  carried  on 
with  more  vigour.  The  Lutherans,  who  were  at  first  spared, 
had  an  opportunity  here,  as  in  Bohemia,  of  watching  the  ill- 
treatment  of  the  Reformed  party  with  malicious  satisfaction. 
But  their  turn  came  next. 

At  the  meeting  of  princes  summoned  by  Ferdinand  in 
November,  instead  of  a  Diet,  at  Ratisbon,  the  dignity  of 
Elector  Palatine  was  solemnly  conferred  on  the  victorious 
Duke  of  Bavaria.  The  new  Government  at  once  distin- 
guished itself  by  a  passionate  zeal  for  conversion.  While 
the  dissolute  conduct  of  the  "  Converters  "  (Seligmacher)  in 
Upper  Austria  was  driving  the  obscure  peasants  to  a  des- 
perate revolt,  the  Bavarians  began  to  make  the  good  old 
Protestant  country  Catholic.  It  was  more  easily  accom- 
plished than  in  Bohemia  and  Upper  Austria.  The  Papal 
Nuncio,  Caraffa,  who  was  met  there  by  almost  unconquer- 
able defiance,  considered  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Pala- 
tinate had  passed  through  their  second  birth  far  more 
painlessly  than  their  brethren  in  the  faith  in  Austria  and 
Bohemia.  The  witnesses  of  it  were  the  many  thousands  of 
the  inhabitants  who  left  their  fair  country,  and  became 
proverbial  in  Europe  as  refugees  from  South  Germany. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE    DANISH   WAR,   1625—29,  AND  ALBRECHT  OF 
WALLENSTEIN. 

Change  of  Sentiment. — The  Protestant  League :  England,  Holland, 
Denmark,  1625. — Christian  IV.  of  Denmark. — Albrecht  von  Wal- 
lenstein. — His  Character. — The  War  of  1626-8. — Defeat  of  Mans- 
feld  at  Dessau,  April,  1626. — Defeat  of  Christian  IV.  at  Lutter, 
on  the  Barenberg,  August,  1626. — Wallenstein  and  Tilly  in  North 
Germany,  Mecklenburg,  Stralsund,  1628. — Peace  of  Lubeck,  May, 
1629. — The  Edict  of  Restitution,  March,  1629,  and  its  Signifi- 
cance.— Machinations  of  the  League  against  Wallenstein. — The 
Meeting  of  Princes  at  Ratisbon. — Dismissal  of  Wallenstein,  June, 
1630. 

CHANGE  OF  SENTIMENT. — THE  PROTESTANT  LEAGUE  BE- 
TWEEN ENGLAND,  HOLLAND,  AND  DENMARK,  1625. — 
CHRISTIAN  IV.  OF  DENMARK. 

THE  affairs  of  1622-3  in  Bohemia,  Upper  Austria,  and 
the  Palatinate  had  a  terribly  irritating  effect  in  and . 
beyond  Germany. 

When  the  Winter  King  hastened  through  Germany,  fugi- 
tive and  defenceless,  after  the  lost  battle,  denied  by  his  own 
relations  as  a  criminal,  and  avoided  like  a  leper,  not  a 
single  voice  was  heard  in  his  favour ;  and  when  he  warned 
them  in  a  public  appeal  that  his  cause  was  the  cause  of 
Protestantism,  that  his  defeat  would  result  in  the  esta- 
blishment of  Spanish  absolutism  in  Germany,  he  was  met 
with  jeers  by  the  Lutherans ;  and  Saxony  advised  the 
Silesian  States  not  to  be  seduced  by  the  rebels,  or  just  that 
which  they  wished  to  avert  would  happen.  Frederic's 
father-in  law,  James  I.  of  England,  did  not  find  it  advisable, 
from  reasons  affecting  the  legitimacy  of  rulers,  to  give  a  bad 
example,  by  supporting  a  revolution;  and,  besides  this,  he 


FEAR   OF  CATHOLIC   REACTION.  429 

had  promised  Spain  not  to  take  any  part  but  that  of  a 
neutral  mediator. 

But  these  sentiments  were  changed  when  the  conse- 
quences of  such  an  attitude  appeared. 

The  beginning  of  the  brutal  Catholic  reaction,  first  in 
Bohemia,  then  in  Austria,  showed  what  was  meant  by  the 
victory  of  the  League.  Then  came  the  perfidious  abuse  of 
James's  mediation  against  his  son-in-law,  the  deposition  of 
the  Elector,  and  the  forced  conversion  of  the  Protestant 
Palatinate.  All  this,  in  spite  of  the  fair  speeches,  for  which 
popular  wit  invented  the  name  of  "  Spanish  sleeping-cup," 
pointed  to  a  Catholic  reaction,  in  face  of  which  no  one  was 
secure  against  a  system  of  compulsion  which  would  overthrow 
all  law  and  usage. 

At  the  meeting  at  Ratisbon,  which  was  intended  to  give 
an  appearance  of  legality  to  the  proceedings  against  the 
Elector,  there  were  warnings  of  opposition.  Pliant 
Saxony  spoke  against  his  deposition,  and  even  withdrew 
her  previous  recognition  of  the  ban ;  Brandenburg  warmly 
took  the  part  of  the  Elector,  whom  she  had  hitherto  con- 
temptuously neglected. 

In  Lower  Saxony  ideas  of  armed  resistance  were  already 
rife,  for  the  foreign  soldiery  was  almost  ruining  the  country, 
when  a  change  took  place  in  England  which  opened  up  a 
prospect  of  a  great  European  coalition  against  Spain  and 
Hapsburg. 

James  I.  and  Buckingham,  embittered  by  Spain's  Jesuiti- 
cal intrigues,  proposed  it  to  Parliament  in  February,  1624. 
Parliament  received  it  with  joy,  and  with  the  assurance  that 
it  was  ready  to  defend  the  true  religion  and  the  rights  of 
the  royal  children  with  body  and  soul.  When  Mansfeld 
arrived  in  London  he  was  greeted  with  acclamation  by  the 
whole  population,  up  to  the  aristocracy,  as  the  hero  of 
religious  liberty. 

From  the  well-known  vacillation  of  the  Government  of 
James  I.  and  Buckingham,  no  persistent  military  interposi- 
tion could  be  reckoned  on ;  more  energy  was  thrown  into  it 
under  his  successor,  Charles  I.,  after  March,  1625,  and  the 
Protestant  League  was  at  length  an  accomplished  fact.  A 
treaty  was  entered  into  on  gth  December,  1625,  at  the  Hague, 
between  England,  Holland,  and  Denmark,  the  object  of 
which  was  a  great  expedition  to  the  Continent,  to  oppose 
the  Hapsburgs  and  reinstate  the  Elector. 


430     FIRST  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

Negotiations  had  previously  been  entered  into  with 
Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden,  but  they  had  not  been  able 
to  agree  on  the  conditions,  and  the  cautious  Swedish  policy 
had  rejected  the  project  as  rash  and  too  extensive. 

England  was  not  in  a  position  to  carry  on  the  war  in 
Germany  on  her  own  account ;  Holland  was  in  the  same 
situation;  they  were  both  obliged  to  depend  on  subsidies 
from  the  warlike  rulers  of  the  Continent,  and  the  help  of 
their  fleets  on  the  coasts. 

King  Christian  of  Denmark  declared  himself  ready  for 
intervention.  As  Duke  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  he  was  a 
prince  of  the  German  Empire,  and  had  been  appointed 
chief  of  the  district  by  the  district  of  Lower  Saxony ;  be- 
sides the  hope  of  enriching  himself  in  North  Germany,  it 
was  greatly  to  his  interest  that  Catholic  restoration  should 
be  checked.  The  kingdom  of  Denmark  had  become  what 
it  was  solely  through  the  Reformation  and  its  results,  poli- 
tical and  ecclesiastical.  Frederic  I.  and  Christian  III.  had 
caused  the  Reformation  to  be  brought  to  their  kingdom 
proper  from  Schleswig,  Holstein,  and  Jutland ;  their  crown 
first  attained  power  and  dignity  through  the  destruction  of 
the  temporal  and  ecclesiastical  feudal  system  ;  so  that  for 
this  kingdom  a  religious  restoration  meant  a  return  to  the 
ancient  yoke  under  which  it,  in  common  with  the  burgher 
and  peasant  class,  had  so  long  suffered. 
•  Frederic  II.,  1559-88,  and  Christian  IV.  had  diligently 
aided  in  building  up  the  new  State  and  in  giving  it  a  healthy 
domestic  foundation. 

The  downfall  of  the  mighty  ecclesiastical  system  had 
indeed  only  been  effected  by  means  of  an  alliance  of  the 
crown  with  the  nobles,  in  which  the  latter  had  contrived 
to  secure  the  lion's  share  for  themselves  ;  they  took  care  to 
have  their  privileges,  their  power  in  the  senate,  their  legal 
jurisdiction  and  immunity  from  taxes,  secured  to  them  by 
the  bond  as  clearly  as  possible.  Still,  there  was  scope 
enough  left  for  the  government  to  take  quietly  in  hand  the 
emancipation  of  the  middle  classes,  by  means  of  a  con- 
scientious, economical  government ;  by  the  lenient  adminis- 
tration of  laws  in  themselves  severe;  by  having  regard  at 
the  same  time  to  the  finances  of  the  State  and  the  prosperity 
of  the  people,  by  increasing  their  earnings,  by  rational 
encouragement  of  trade  and  manufactures,  by  turning  to 
account  the  natural  inclinations  of  this  insular  people  for 


CHRISTIAN  IV.   OF  DENMARK.  431 

navigation  and  colonial  enterprise — thus  making  the  cause 
of  the  monarchy  the  cause  of  the  working  population,  who 
now  first  began  to  lead  a  life  worthy  of  men.  Frederic  II. 
and  Christian  IV.  accomplished  this  with  skill  and  assiduity. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  war  in  Germany,  Christian  was  a 
beloved  and  successful  monarch.  A  man  possessing  rare 
gifts,  a  great  variety  of  knowledge,  and  broad  views,  he  laid 
during  his  long  reign  the  foundations  of  the  material 
prosperity  which  Denmark  enjoyed  until  the  last  century. 

He  was  at  once  the  first  military  organizer  of  Denmark, 
and  the  founder  of  its  domestic  and  commercial  policy,  thus 
exhibiting  qualifications  not  often  combined.  The  founda- 
tion of  the  commercial  cities  of  Christiania  and  Gliickstadt, 
the  exchange  in  Copenhagen,  the  introduction  of  uniform 
weights  and  measures,  the  colonies  in  Iceland  and  Green- 
land, regular  postal  intercourse,  the  attempt  to  check 
the  commercial  supremacy  of  the  Hansa,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  a  standing  army  not  composed  of  foreign  hirelings, 
but  of  native  peasants  led  by  Danish  officers,  all  date  from 
his  time. 

At  the  head  of  an  efficient  army,  this  monarch  was  a 
power  not  to  be  despised,  especially  if  the  aid  of  England 
and  Holland  were  as  trustworthy  as  it  was  readily  promised. 

As  wearer  of  a  crown  to  which  the  success  of  the  Catholic 
restoration  would  be  a  fatal  danger — as  a  prince  of  the 
German  Empire,  enjoying  great  influence  in  North  Germany, 
Christian  IV.  could  not  look  on  with  apathy  at  the  war  in 
Germany,  besides  which  he  might  have  an  idea  of  rounding 
off  the  possession  of  Holstein  in  Lower  Saxony.  So  he 
accepted  the  offer  of  England  and  Holland,  and  began  the 
war  in  North  Germany,  supported  by  some  of  the  North 
German  princes  who  were  influenced  by  similar  considera- 
tions. 

The  war  was  not  successful ;  at  the  very  beginning  of  it 
the  army  of  the  League  occupied  North  Germany,  and  when 
it  came  to  a  battle  Christian  was  driven  from  the  field,  and  the 
Danish  army  pursued  by  Wallenstein  back  to  its  own  country. 
But  the  significance  of  this  war  lies  elsewhere.  About  this 
time  Ferdinand  II.  succeeded  in  detaching  himself  from  the 
guardianship  of  the  League,  and  in  carrying  on  the  war 
with  his  own  resources.  The  formation  and  triumphs  of 
this  new  army  are  connected  with  Albrecht  von  Wallen- 
stein. 


432     FIRST  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

ALBRECHT  VON  WALDSTEIN,  OR  WALLENSTEIN. 

Wallenstein  belonged  to  the  nobility,  but  not  to  the  high 
Bohemian  aristocracy.  His  parents  and  grandparents,  and 
his  family,  with  few  exceptions,  were  Protestants,  but  by  a 
singular  dispensation,  the  young  Albrecht,  born  i5th  Sep- 
tember, 1583,  and  early  left  an  orphan,  was  adopted  by  an 
uncle,  one  of  the  few  of  the  family  who  had  remained  faith- 
ful to  Catholicism,  and  he  brought  him  back  to  the  old 
faith.  He  grew  up  as  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuits.  A  Catholic 
nobleman  was  a  rarity  in  Bohemia.  He  was  introduced  by 
his  uncle  into  the  service  of  the  Hapsburgs,  and  early  dis- 
tinguished himself.  He  performed  a  great  service  to  the 
Archduke  Ferdinand,  in  Styria,  in  his  war  against  the 
Venetians,  in  1617  ;  when  the  fortress  of  Gradiska  was 
besieged  by  the  Venetians  and  closely  pressed,  he  contrived 
to  convey  rich  stores  of  provisions  to  it  through  the  ranks 
of  the  besiegers  ;  and,  still  more  important  than  this,  he 
equipped  a  regiment  from  his  own  resources,  whose  officers 
and  troops  adored  him,  and  whose  appearance  was  the 
pride  of  the  whole  army.  A  talented  young  soldier,  who 
was  at  once  a  Catholic  and  an  adherent  of  the  house  of 
Hapsburg,  was  a  real  treasure  in  those  days  of  general 
defection.  When  the  revolt  broke  out  in  Bohemia,  and  all 
his  relations  were  on  the  Protestant  side,  he  distinguished 
himself  by  his  strongly  marked  imperialism ;  he  helped  with 
his  cuirassiers  to  decide  the  engagement  against  Count 
Mansfeld  at  Teyn,  and  he  covered  Bouguoy's  retreat  with 
great  dexterity  against  the  hosts  of  Bethlen  Gabon 

Wallenstein  had  early  rendered  himself  independent  by 
a  rich  marriage.  He  shunned  no  sacrifice  to  secure  the 
favour  of  the  Hapsburgs  at  the  time  of  their  great  diffi- 
culties, and  he  had  the  knack  of  keeping  up  an  appearance 
of  great  expenditure,  while  he  was  a  good  manager;  he 
never  lost  a  favourable  opportunity,  and  even  when  he  gave 
liberally  was  only  casting  the  net  for  greater  gain. 

As  nearly  all  the  aristocracy  were  upon  the  rebel  side  in 
the  Bohemian  revolution,  his  faithfulness  was  doubly  valu- 
able, and,  when  the  great  confiscation  of  property  took 
place,  the  time  came  for  him  to  reap  his  harvest. 

By  the  year  1622,  Ferdinand  had  confiscated  no  less  than 
642  lordships  and  estates  of  Bohemian  noblemen ;  and,  as 
he  was  in  great  want  of  money,  the  spoil  was  sold  at  ridi- 


WALLENSTEIN.  433 

culotis  prices.  The  market  was  flooded  with  estates;  he 
who  had  ready  money  to  spend  could  quickly  acquire  im- 
mense wealth.  Wallenstein  was  a  millionaire,  and  spent 
seven  millions  and  one-third  of  florins  in  buying  some  of 
these  estates,  mostly  at  absurd  prices  ;  and,  in  addition  to 
the  sixty  properties  thus  acquired,  he  received  from  the 
Emperor,  for  the  advances  made  in  his  service,  the  im- 
portant territory  of  Friedland,  with  the  little  town  of  Rei- 
chenberg,  for  the  price  of  150,000  florins. :;: 

Besides  having  this  good  fortune,  Wallenstein  was  an 
unusually  talented  man,  not  so  much  as  a  general,  as  in  his 
great  skill  in  organizing,  exercising,  disciplining,  and  pro- 
viding for  an  army. 

The  military  system  of  Europe  was  then  in  a  transition 
state  from  old  forms  to  new,  or  rather  the  old  forms  had 
disappeared  and  the  new  ones  had  not  been  discovered. 
The  last  relics  of  feudal  service  had  vanished,  and  the 
modern  system  of  a  levy  of  the  inhabitants  for  a  standing 
army  had  not  become  general ;  the  armies  were  neither  the 
one  thing  nor  the  other  •  the  men  were  neither  bound  to 
their  leaders  as  faithful  vassals,  nor  bound  together  as  belong- 
ing to  the  same  nation.  War  was  a  trade  which  motives  of 
gain  were  the  only  inducement  to  engage  in  ;  a  moral  bond 
of  common  sentiments  and  higher  duties  was  unknown.  The 
troops  were  hired  from  all  countries.  Wherever  circum- 
stances were  unhappy  or  oppressive,  thousands  were  ready 
to  seek  their  fortunes  in  war ;  whoever,  for  less  honourable 
reasons,  was  expelled  from  society,  followed  the  drum,  and 
gained  his  livelihood  under  any  colours  he  pleased.  The 
Bohemian  exiles  were  found  in  thousands  in  all  the  armies 
which  fought  against  Austria.  The  Irish  were  as  numerous  in 
those  of  their  opponents ;  it  was  the  same  with  the  Walloons, 
&c.  The  Germans  were  pretty  equally  distributed  on  both 
sides. 

It  was  Wallenstein's  forte  to  form  an  army  out  of  such 
elements ;  and,  when  every  other  bond  of  union  failed,  to 
make  himself  their  centre. 

In  this  respect  no  army  was  equal  to  his  ;  no  one  suc- 
ceeded  as  he  did  in  casting  the  whole  in  one  mould,  in 
inspiring  the  native  soldiers  with  an  esprit  de  corps,  and  in 
making  himself  the  centre  of  the  hirelings,  and  of  the  army  as 
a  whole.     For  the  rest,  he  was  one  of  those  characters  who 
*  i'oister,  Wallenstein  als  Feldherr  und  Laudesfurst.   1834. 
F  F 


434     FIRST  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

rise  up  in  times  like  these — an  upstart,  who,  from  a  modest 
position,  had  become  a  magnate,  with  principalities  under 
him  ;  yet  he  was  coarse  by  nature,  never  knew  any  other  mo- 
tive than  thirst  for  power.  Even  people  who  are  on  the  conser- 
vative side  share  the  revolutionary  characteristics  of  the  age. 

He  had  no  more  respect  for  tradition,  usage,  or  legal 
rights,  than  a  successful  soldier  is  likely  to  have ;  he  had 
seen  so  many  of  the  great  fall,  he  had  taken  so  many  suc- 
cessful steps  over  other  people's  heads,  that  he  entertained  the 
idea  that  his  own  iron  fist  might  attain  for  him  what  the 
mere  accidents  of  birth  had  cast  into  the  laps  of  others. 
He  therefore  thoroughly  despised  the  ancient  German 
character,  and  had  a  profound  contempt  for  the  motives 
which  actuate  little  men.  He  was  a  man  like  Napoleon's 
marshals,  and  held  the  opinion  that  it  was  not  too  rash  to 
aspire  to  higher  things  than  he  possessed,  and  which  in  the 
opinions  of  other  mortals  might  possess. 

He  was  disposed  to  follow  the  phantasies  of  an  extrava- 
gant ambition,  and  to  form  all  sorts  of  hazardous  projects 
beyond  his  means.  He  liked  to  play  at  hazard,  to  stake  all 
on  one  card,  and  to  follow  dark  paths  with  a  certain  super- 
stition. He  was  fond  of  reservations  and  equivocations; 
called  it  lofty  wisdom;  and  what  others  called  cunning 
only  appeared  to  him  as  diplomatic  skill.  No  con- 
siderations, either  religious,  national,  or  personal,  interfered 
with  his  ambition.  He  served  the  house  of  Hapsburg 
because  it  was  with  them  that  his  star  had  risen,  but  it 
cost  him  nothing  to  engage  in  projects  which  had  nothing 
in  common  with  the  duties  of  a  loyal  imperialist.  He 
fought  for  the  Catholic  cause,  but  without  the  fanaticism  of 
his  master  or  Tilly's  zeal  for  conversion.  He  was  praised 
for  his  toleration,  but  it  arose  from  indifference. 

This  personage,  with  immense  resources,  princely  wealth, 
unusual  political  and  military  virtuosoship,  aspiring  ambi- 
tion, and  a  thorough  contempt  for  tradition,  appeared  at 
the  Emperor's  side,  and  almost  eclipsed  him. 

The  Emperor  was  oppressed  with  the  idea  that  a  foreign 
army,  that  of  the  League,  should  obtain  his  victories  and 
re-conquer  his  territories.  Wallenstein  created  an  army 
for  him  which  rendered  him  independent  of  Bavaria,  and 
was  large  enough  to  maintain  itself  and  conquer  whole 
countries.  He  said  that  he  would  provide,  not  20,000,  but 
50.000  men,  and  he  knew  that  such  a  force  would,  like  an 


DEFEAT   OF  MANSFELD.  435 

emigrant  nation,  be  able  to  live  from  war  itself  and  put  any 
enemy  to  flight. 

THE  WAR  OF  1626-8. 

Wallenstein  took  the  field  openly,  with  the  purpose  of 
carrying  on  the  war  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  for  his 
own  fame,  and  therefore  of  altogether  ignoring,  or,  if  possible, 
of  eclipsing  the  army  of  the  League  under  Tilly,  which,  to 
the  great  terror  of  the  inhabitants,  had  been  encamping  for 
months  in  Lower  Saxony. 

From  the  autumn  of  1625  Wallenstein  encamped  with 
his  hosts  between  Magdeburg,  Halberstadt,  and  Dessau, 
well  provided  with  money,  provisions,  and  every  necessary, 
and  for  months  worked  at  the  erection  of  a  secure  tcte  du 
po?it  and  gigantic  fortifications ;  while  Tilly,  in  already 
exhausted  districts,  pressed  by  Christian  IV.,  wandered 
about  in  despair,  his  army  near  dissolution  from  sickness, 
want,  and  desertion,  and  he  looked  in  vain  for  help  either 
from  home  or  from  Wallenstein. 

To  Wallenstein  belonged  the  fame  of  the  first  military 
achievement  of  the  year.  In  April,  Ernest  of  Mansfeld 
arrived  at  the  Elbe  with  the  most  splendid  army  he  had 
ever  commanded — 20,000  men,  with  thirty  pieces  of  heavy 
artillery — and  began  to  storm  the  tete  du  pont  at  Dessau.  A 
fearful  conflict  lasted  for  several  days;  the  imperial  general, 
Aldringen,  held  out  with  heroic  perseverance,  and  enabled 
Wallenstein,  by  a  final  attack  with  the  cavalry  in  the  rear, 
to  decide  the  engagement.  On  April  25th,  1626,  Mansfeld 
was  signally  defeated,  and  pursued  through  Frankfort  into 
Silesia.  It  was  his  last  campaign.  On  his  journey  through 
Bosnia  he  fell  ill,  and  died  as  he  had  lived.  When  he  felt 
death  approaching  he  put  on  his  best  uniform,  and  awaited 
the  end  standing  upright,  supported  by  two  of  his  com- 
panions in  arms.* 

A  few  months  after  him  died  that  other  fierce  general  and 
sharer  of  his  views,  Christian  of  Brunswick. 

These  two  losses  almost  decided  the  fate  of  the  Danish 
campaign.  As  long  as  these  two  heroes  were  active,  and 
Tilly's  army  was  scarcely  in  a  situation  to  stand  a  united 
attack,  Christian  IV.  had  hesitated ;  but  now  Tilly  began 

*  A  warm  apology  for  Mansfeld  has  lately  appeared  :  Ernest  Graf  zu 
Mansfeld,  1580 — 1626,  vom  Grafen  Uetterodtzu  Scharffenberg.  Gotha. 
1867. 


436     FIRST  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

to  revive,  Miinden  and  Gottingen  were  taken  with  horrible 
slaughter.  There  were  still  favourable  moments,  in  which, 
had  they  been  taken  advantage  of,  much  might  have  been 
recovered ;  but  Christian  neglected  them,  and  on  zyth 
August  suffered  a  complete  defeat  at  Lutter  and  Barenberg, 
and  was  compelled  to  retreat  to  Holstein.  The  army  of 
the  League  was  now  master  in  Brunswick  and  Hanover. 

Wallenstein  and  Tilly  found  no  further  opposition  in  North 
Germany.  All  Silesia  with  its  fortresses  fell  into  the  Duke's 
hands,  and  the  Emperor  granted  him  the  Duchy  of  Sagan  and 
the  lordship  of  Priebus  as  hereditary  possessions.  Thence  he 
made  preparations  on  a  large  scale  for  a  campaign  against 
Christian  of  Denmark  on  his  own  territory;  in  Wallenstein's 
Duchy  of  Friedland,  forges,  powder  mills,  and  manufactories 
of  arms,  were  at  work  day  and  night  for  the  equipment  of 
his  army,  and  his  own  mint  coined  the  ready  money  for  the 
payment  of  the  troops. 

When,  in  the  autumn  of  1627,  he  advanced  by  rapid 
marches  towards  the  north,  the  two  Dukes  of  Mecklenburg 
at  once  submitted  to  him,  all  the  fortresses  were  garrisoned 
by  Wallenstein,  and,  in  conjunction  with  Tilly,  he  began 
operations  against  Holstein  and  Schleswig. 

His  schemes  now,  as  appears  from  his  correspondence, 
were  gigantic  to  a  fantastic  degree. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  he  took  leave  of  absence  for 
three  months.  His  representative,  Colonel  Arnim,  was 
commissioned  to  occupy  and  fortify  all  the  harbours  of 
Pomerania,  to  take  all  the  ships  he  could,  and  to  arm  those 
fit  for  it ;  "  for,  you  see,  we  shall  now  betake  ourselves  to 
the  sea."  He  was  to  watch  Sweden  carefully,  "  for  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  is  a  dangerous  visitor,  of  whom  one  must 
beware  ; "  he  was  to  burn  his  ships  when  it  was  possible ; 
meanwhile  he  was  to  negotiate  with  the  Danish  States,  to 
induce  them  to  depose  their  Christian,  and  to  elect  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand  king.  If  they  consented,  he  promised 
that  all  their  privileges,  even  the  Reformation,  should  be 
held  sacred ;  but  if  not,  they  should  become  his  vassals. 
Meanwhile  he  was  trying  to  induce  the  Emperor  to  secure 
Mecklenburg  to  him,  and  seeking  a  pretext  for  suspending 
an  imperial  ban  over  the  dukes. 

Now,  however,  the  long-concealed  rancour  of  the  Duke 
of  Bavaria  and  his  party  broke  out.  Wallenstein  cared 
nothing  for  priests;  and  instead  of  joining  with  Tilly  in  making 


WALLENSTEIN'S  PROJECTS.  437 

North  Germany  Catholic,  his  sole  concern  was  to  found  a 
powerful  principality  for  himself,  which  delayed  the  schemes 
this  party  had  in  view.  He  had  also  let  fall  some  ominous 
expressions,  from  which  it  appeared  that  it  was  his  inten- 
tion, if  possible,  that  all  the  German  princes,  with  their 
"  German  liberty,"  should  share  the  fate  of  the  Mecklen- 
burgers.  Let  the  palaces  of  the  princes,  he  had  said,  be 
pulled  down  ;  they  would  no  longer  be  wanted ;  there  was 
but  one  king  in  France  and  Spain,  and  there  should  be  but 
one  Emperor  in  Germany.  The  Electors,  in  particular, 
he  must  teach  morals,  and  show  them  that  the  Emperor 
was  not  dependent  on  them,  but  they  on  the  Emperor,  &c. 

Such  counsels  did  not  prevail,  though  it  was  thought  that 
there  were  signs  that  the  Emperor  himself  was  of  opinion 
"  that  the  power  of  the  Electors  must  be  somewhaf  re- 
stricted," for  he  felt  the  burden  of  a  personal  dependence 
on  the  Elector  Max,  who  still  kept  possession  of  Upper 
Austria  as  a  pledge. 

Wallenstein  obtained  the  promise  of  Mecklenburg,  first 
as  a  pledge  and  then  as  a  principality,  and  the  Dukes  were 
declared  to  have  forfeited  their  country.  At  the  same  time 
the  Emperor  Ferdinand  released  himself  from  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  League.  In  March,  1628,  the  Elector  Max 
received  the  Upper  Palatinate  instead  of  Upper  Austria, 
and  the  Lower  Palatinate  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
as  indemnity  for  the  expenses  and  sacrifices  of  the  Bo- 
hemian war.  Ferdinand  was  thus  again  in  possession  of 
his  inheritance  ;  Max  had  deprived  his  own  relation  of  his 
country,  and  the  war,  which  could  only  be  put  an  end  to 
by  bringing  back  the  banished  Count  Palatine,  seemed 
likely  to  go  on  for  ever. 

In  the  spring,  Wallenstein,  "the  Admiral  of  the  North  and 
Baltic  Seas,"  as  he  was  now  called,  began  to  take  possession 
of  the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  He  had  cast  his  eyes  especially 
on  two  points — Riigen  and  Stralsund.  The  first  was  taken ; 
the  second  resisted,  being  assisted  by  Denmark  and  Sweden 
with  money,  munitions,  provisions,  and  troops.  Wallen- 
stein was  determined  to  have  the  city,  "  even  if  it  were 
attached  by  chains  to  heaven."  But  it  was  all  in  vain  :  all 
his  attacks  were  repulsed,  his  proposals  rejected;  his  troops 
suffered  enormous  losses  from  the  enemy's  fire,  want,  sick- 
ness, and  bad  weather,  and  after  a  six  months'  assault  they 
were  obliged,  in  August,  1628,  to  beat  an  ignominious  retreat. 


438     FIRST  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

Wallenstein's  military  successes,  and  his  splendid  dream 
of  dominion  over  the  seas,  were  put  an  end  to  by  the 
ramparts  of  Stralsund,  and  the  heroic  endurance  of  its 
Protestant  population.  He  was  now  the  first  to  counsel 
peace ;  the  ground  burnt  under  his  feet.  Tired  of  a  hope- 
less contest  with  maritime  powers,  against  which  he  was 
defenceless,  he  was  eager  speedily  to  come  to  terms  with 
Denmark.  The  Treaty  of  Lubeck  was  entered  into  in 
May,  1629  ;  both  parties  renounced  compensation,  and  all 
his  cities  and  provinces  were  restored  to  the  vanquished 
King  Christian,  as  if  he  had  been  the  victor. 

Meanwhile  the  party  of  the  League  had  obtained  a  great 
success.  They  had  extorted  an  edict  from  the  Emperor, 
to  issue  which  he  could  only  have  been  advised  by  his 
bitterest  enemy ;  this  was  the  Edict  of  Restitution  of  6th 
March,  1629. 

THE  EDICT  OF  RESTITUTION,  1629,  AND  DISMISSAL  OF 
WALLENSTEIN,  1630. 

Among  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  Elector  Max  of 
Bavaria,  when  he  gave  up  the  territory  north  of  the  Ens  to 
the  Emperor,  there  were  two  secret  ones — the  banishment 
of  the  Calvinists  and  the  restitution  of  Catholic  Church 
property.  After  long  delay  and  consultation  with  ecclesias- 
tics and  laymen,  the  Emperor  decided  to  accede  to  these 
demands.  This  was  effected  by  the  Edict  of  Restitution, 
by  which  it  was  ordained  that  "all  bishoprics,  monas- 
teries, and  other  Church  property  not  held  directly  under 
the  Crown  (mittelbar),  confiscated  since  the  Treaty  of 
Passau,  shall  be  restored  to  the  Catholics;  all  the  bishoprics 
held  directly  under  the  Crown  (unmittelbar),  which,  con- 
trary to  the  ecclesiastic  reservation,  had  come  into  the 
hands  of  the  Protestants,  shall  again  be  occupied  by 
Catholic  prelates.  The  Catholic  States  are  empowered  to 
compel  their  subjects  to  adopt  their  religion,  and  in  case  of 
refusal,  they  are  to  leave  the  country  on  receiving  an  ade- 
quate sum  of  money  ;  further,  the  religious  peace  only  con- 
cerned the  Catholics  and  the  adherents  of  the  unaltered 
Confession  of  Augsburg.  No  other  sects,  Calvinists  or 
Zwinglians,  were  to  be  tolerated  in  the  empire." 

This  edict  had,  in  part,  strict  legality  on  its  side ;  but  put 
in  practice  it  involved  a  great  revolution,  which  would  be 


THE   EDICT   OF  REST!"  CTION.  439 

absolute  annihilation  to  the  property  and  churches  of  the 
Protestant  States,  and  indeed  to  German  Protestantism 
itself.  The  bishoprics  not  held  directly  under  the  Crown, 
but  under  some  local  ruler,  had  been  confiscated  in  great 
numbers  by  Protestant  and  Catholic  princes.  In  1552-5, 
when  the  Protestants  were  in  the  ascendancy,  and  had 
nothing  to  fear  from  the  Emperor,  the  number  of  seculari- 
sations by  Protestants  had  greatly  increased  ;  and  when,  in 
1555,  the  question  was  discussed,  no  clause  could  be 
carried  which  enjoined  restitution.  The  status  quo  was 
quietly  recognised  ;  but  this  was  now  more  than  seventy 
years  ago,  and  was  all  to  be  changed  by  a  stroke  of 
the  pen. 

The  ecclesiastical  reservation  proviso,  if  King  Ferdi- 
nand's clause,  so  called,  was  still  to  be  considered  in  force, 
had  certainly  been  infringed. 

Several  Protestant  princes  had  taken  advantage  of  the 
occasion,  and  contrived  that  their  sons  or  brothers  should 
be  made  bishops,  and  afterwards,  on  their  conversion,  had 
changed  the  bishoprics  into  secular  Protestant  territories. 

In  now  demanding  that  things  should  be  restored  as 
they  were  before  the  infringement  of  the  reservation,  they 
were  formally  right.  But  then  they  ought  not  in  the  next 
article  to  have  granted  to  the  Catholic  States  the  right  of 
converting  or  banishing  their  Protestant  subjects,  for  that 
was  contrary  to  another  proviso  still  in  force,  by  which 
religious  liberty  was  expressly  granted  to  the  Protestant 
subjects  of  ecclesiastical  rulers. 

If  one  was  law,  so  was  the  other. 

Then,  after  the  religious  peace,  large  territories  belonged 
to  the  adherents  of  the  Reformed  faith  :  the  Electoral  Pala- 
tinate, Hesse  Cassel,  Zweibriicken,  Cleve,  Berg,  and  the 
electoral  line  of  the  house  of  Hohenzollern.  These  terri- 
tories were  deprived  of  their  legal  existence  by  the  last 
article,  and  sacrificed  to  the  unlimited  power  of  the  Catholic 
reaction. 

Besides,  in  standing  upon  formal  legal  rights,  they  were 
taking  a  step,  the  consequences  of  which  might  be  incalcu- 
lable, and  which  could  only  be  considered  practicable  by  a 
blind  camarilla  elate  with  victory.  There  could  no  longer 
be  any  peace  under  such  a  system. 

Even  Saxony  and  Brandenburg,  who  were  surprisingly 
passive  so  long  as  religion  only  was  in  danger,  became  very 


440     FIRST  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

uneasy  as  soon  as  Church  property  was  at  stake ;  it  drove 
them  into  the  enemy's  camp.  The  bishoprics  held  directly 
under  the  Crown,  which  were  to  be  restored,  formed  together 
a  little  kingdom.  They  were  the  archbishoprics  of  Magde- 
burg and  Bremen,  the  bishoprics  of  Minden,  Verden,  Hal- 
berstadt,  Liibeck,  Ratzeburg,  Meissen,  Merseburg,  Naum- 
burg,  Brandenburg,  Havelberg,  Lebus,  Camin.  The  Resti- 
tution also  affected  numberless  abbeys. 

If  such  an  edict  were  enforced,  it  would  be  to  challenge 
the  dynasties  and  people  to  a  struggle  for  life  and  death. 
But  this  was  not  taken  into  consideration,  although  there 
was  a  nine  years'  war  about  trifles  to  look  back  upon. 

The  Protestants  were  often  afterwards  reproached  with 
having  forgotten  country,  honour,  and  everything  in  their 
hatred  of  the  Hapsburgs,  and  with  having  served  under 
foreign  colours,  Danish,  Swedish,  and  even  French,  and  this 
cannot  be  gainsaid,  nor  the  fearful  confusion  which  resulted 
from  it  amongst  our  people. 

But  the  guilt  of  the  originators  of  this  mischief  must  not 
be  forgotten.  What  could  they  do  but  accept  any  help  that 
was  offered  them,  when  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them 
were  deprived  of  their  rights,  religion,  and  property,  and 
driven  from  their  country  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  ?  The 
German  Protestants  were  brought  to  the  same  point  as  the 
Irish  Catholics,  who  in  blind  revenge  opposed  everything 
Protestant. 

The  result  proved  the  impracticability  of  the  edict.  After 
six  years  of  bloodshed,  the  Emperor  was  compelled  to  grant 
the  abolition  of  it  to  Saxony  and  Brandenburg,  and,  after 
thirteen  years  more  of  fearful  warfare,  to  all  the  other 
Protestants  and  Reformers ;  so  that  all  that  was  effected 
by  a  nine  years'  contest  was  that  the  edict  was  torn  to 
shreds. 

And  if  the  restoration  of  Church  property  had  been 
honestly  intended — that  is,  if  it  meant  the  restoration  of  it 
to  its  previous  owners — this  was  by  no  means  what  was 
generally  understood  by  it.  If  its  confiscation  was  called 
robbery,  it  could  not  be  made  good  by  fresh  plunder. 

Most  of  the  bishoprics  belonged  to  religious  orders  in 
whose  days  the  Jesuits  did  not  exist,  especially  the  nume- 
rous Benedictine  abbeys.  When  these  demanded  the  resti- 
tution of  their  property,  it  was  already  occupied  by  the 
Jesuits. 


THE  EDICT   OF  RESTITUTION.  441 

And  it  was  just  the  same  with  the  appointments  to  the 
archbishoprics  and  bishoprics.  Instead  of  allowing  the 
prelates  to  be  elected  as  was  prescribed  by  ancient  regu- 
lations, archdukes  and  magnates  of  the  house  of  Austria 
were  always  ready  to  take  the  places  of  the  old  owners. 

The  Emperor's  blunder  was  soon  punished,  and  in  a  way 
he  did  not  anticipate. 

The  least  that  he  expected  to  attain  when  he  yielded  to 
the  entreaties  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  League,  was  the  satis- 
faction of  their  increasingly  inconvenient  demands.  But 
in  this  he  was  mistaken.  When  he  now  requested  the 
League  to  withdraw  or  dismiss  its  armies  for  the  relief 
of  Franconia  and  Swabia,  the  Elector  Max  summoned  a 
meeting  of  the  League  at  Heidelberg ;  and,  after  dismiss- 
ing a  few  troops  in  its  name  for  the  sake  of  appearance, 
demanded  that  the  Emperor  himself  should  disarm — that  is, 
dismiss  Wallenstein  and  dissolve  his  army,  or  at  least  sum- 
mon a  meeting  of  Electors  to  establish  a  speedy  and  secure 
peace. 

The  Edict  of  Restitution  had  induced  the  tamest  members 
of  the  Protestant  aristocracy  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
Emperor;  all  that  was  now  wanting  was  to  deprive  him  of  the 
man  who  had  set  him  upon  his  legs,  to  hurl  him  from 
the  giddy  heights  to  which  he  had  climbed.  And  this  was 
now  to  be  accomplished. 

There  were  numerous  complaints  against  Wallenstein. 
His  whole  military  system,  his  plan  of  making  the  countries 
in  which  his  armies  were  encamped  provide  for  them,  was 
a  fearful  one.  When  they  came  into  a  district,  not  only 
the  interest  of  capital,  but  capital  itself  was  devoured. 
If  his  troops  did  not  behave  worse  than  others,  the  horrors 
occasioned  by  the  dissolute  bands  of  fierce  soldiers  were 
bad  enough.  The  fire  and  destruction,  the  outrages  upon 
women,  the  relentless  cruelty  towards  every  living  thing, 
were  not  more  horrible  among  his  soldiers  than  among  others, 
but  generals  looked  with  envy  upon  a  camp  which  never 
lacked  necessaries,  because  a  regular  system  of  plunder  and 
torture  prevailed,  while  they  who  would  have  been  ready 
enough  to  follow  his  example  could  never  succeed  in  pro- 
viding comfortably  for  the  soldier. 

The  rulers  had  great  reason  to  complain  of  him.  He 
had  offended  them  all  by  his  scornful  tone  ;  some  of  them 
he  had  driven  from  their  countries,  had  made  himself 


442     FIRST  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

their  ruler,  and  openly  pursued  a  policy  intended  to  exter- 
minate all  ruling  princes,  and  to  set  up  an  aristocracy  of 
successful  soldiers  under  an  imperial  military  dictatorship.* 
All  classes  were  agreed  in  their  hatred  of  Wallenstein ;  the 
priests  could  not  forgive  him  because  he  cared  nothing  for 
their  conversions,  and  he  sometimes  exclaimed,  "  The  devil 
and  hell-fire  take  the  priests."  There  was  scarcely  one  of 
the  Protestant  party  whose  country  he  had  not  ruined,  who 
had  not  had  to  famish  while  his  head-quarters  were  rolling 
in  luxury,  and  the  League  desired  to  avenge  his  treatment 
of  Tilly,  his  open  intention  of  thrusting  it  on  one  side, 
and,  if  possible,  of  utterly  destroying  it. 

Thus  a  great  storm  was  gathering  around  the  "  Dictator 
of  Germany,"  as  Max  of  Bavaria  called  the  Duke  of  Fried- 
land. 

In  June,  1630,  the  meeting  of  princes  took  place  at 
Ratisbon — there  were  no  Diets  until  1640 — and  a  long 
accusation  was  laid  before  it  against  Wallenstein,  who  was 
the  cause  of  "  all  the  trouble,  disgrace,  and  scandal,  of  all  the 
horrible  and  unheard-of  military  oppression."  It  demanded 
the  dismissal  of  the  imperial  infantry  and  its  leader.  Among 
the  most  zealous  of  this  party  were  the  French  embassy,  who 
were  present  in  consequence  of  an  Italian  business. 

While  the  Emperor  was  considering  whether  he  would 
enter  into  a  contest  with  the  ruling  aristocracy  and  their 
allies,  France,  England,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Holland, 
or  give  up  his  only  support,  Wallenstein  had  coolly  taken 
measures  for  giving  the  law  upon  the  battle-field  in  the  first 
case. 

He  had  divided  his  men,  between  50,000  and  60,000,  into 
two  parts,  and  caused  them  to  occupy  highly  suspicious 
posts  in  Alsace  and  Swabia,  in  order  that  at  a  given  sign 
one  division  might  attack  Bavaria,  the  other  France. 

But  it  was  not  to  come  to  this.  Ferdinand,  as  the  patron 
of  a  man  like  Wallenstein,  did  not  venture  on  an  enterprise 
which  he  might  perhaps  have  undertaken  as  the  commander 
of  his  own  army.  He  granted  his  dismissal,  and  Wallen- 
stein submitted  without  question. 

It  was  a  most  critical  decision.  Just  when  the  Edict  of 
Restitution  had  ignited  a  fearful  conflagration,  when  Gus- 

*  For  his  plans  with  Tilly  and  Pappenheim,  see  Gfrorer's  Gustav 
Adolf. 


WALLENSTEIN'S  DISMISSAL.  443 

tavus  Adolphus  had  already  landed  in  Germany,  the  Emperor 
allowed  himself  to  be  compelled  by  his  States  to  dismiss 
his  general ;  and  in  this  case  it  meant  much  more  than  the 
ordinary  dismissal  of  a  general — it  deprived  all  his  military 
force  of  their  head.  The  army  was  the  creation  of  Wallen- 
stein.  No  longer  kept  together  and  paid  by  him,  it  would 
be  dispersed,  and  this  was  abundantly  proved  in  the  suc- 
ceeding period  ;  in  this  case  the  Emperor  would,  as  before, 
be  dependent  on  the  League,  when  he  had  been  obliged  to 
pledge  his  heritage  to  the  Elector. 

Seldom  have  great  historical  events  followed  in  such 
close  connection  as  in  this  case.  During  the  same  days  of 
June  when  the  Emperor  was  guilty  of  the  imprudence  of 
sacrificing  Wallenstein  to  the  League,  Gustavus  Adolphus 
landed  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  in  order  to  summon  the 
threatened  Protestant  elements  under  his  banner. 

Khevenhiller  attributes  these  events  to  an  intrigue  of 
Richelieu,  who,  in  order  to  bring  to  nought  the  growing 
power  of  the  Hapsburgs,  zealously  advocated  two  measures 
— an  edict  for  the  restitution  of  all  church  property  confis- 
cated after  the  Treaty  of  Passau,  and  the  dismissal  of  Wallen- 
stein. The  one  was  fatally  to  estrange  from  Ferdinand  all  the 
Protestant  states,  and  thereby  to  cause  perpetual  schism  in 
the  empire ;  the  other,  to  deprive  him  of  his  most  powerful 
weapon,  and  to  render  him  defenceless  against  both  foreign 
and  domestic  foes. 

One  thing  is  certain,  that  these  results  did  take  place, 
and  the  warning  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  in  1629,  that  the 
Edict  of  Restitution  would  please  no  one  but  adverse 
foreign  powers,  was  strikingly  fulfilled. 


PART  IX. 

SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 
GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

SWEDEN   AND   GUSTAVUS   ADOLPHUS.* 

Sweden  before  Gustavus  Adolphus. — Erich  XIV.,  1560-68. — John  III., 
1568-92,  and  Charles  of  Siidermanland. — Charles  as  Regent, 
1592-1604. — Charles  IX.  as  King,  1604-11. — Gustavus  Adolphus 
in  Sweden,  1611-30. — Position  of  Affairs  at  the  beginning  of  his 
Reign. — Political,  Military,  and  Domestic  Reforms. — Wars  with 
Denmark,  Russia,  and  Poland. — The  Contest  for  the  Baltic. 

SWEDEN  BEFORE  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS,  1560-1611. 

/^USTAVUS  VASA  had  risen  from  being  a  rebel  and 
vJ  conspirator  to  be  regent  and  king,  and  with  wonder- 
ful ability  had  succeeded  in  two  things — in  founding  a  here- 
ditary monarchy,  and  in  providing  the  means  for  its  stability 
by  taking  possession  of  the  mediaeval  church  property  and 
incorporating  it  with  the  crown  lands. 

The  poorest  of  countries  became  by  these  means  one  of 
the  most  wealthy;  its  trade,  navigation,  harbours,  army, 
and  fleet  began  to  prosper ;  and  the  Swedes  are  right  in  re- 
garding Gustavus  Vasa  as  the  founder  of  their  greatness, 

*  Besides  the  literature  mentioned  in  Chap.  xii. :  Pufendorf,  De  rebus 
suec.  1686.  Geijer,  Geschichte  Schwedens.  III.  Bd.  Gfrorer,  Gustav 
Adolf.  1845.  Helbig,  Gustav  Adolf  und  der  Kurfiirst  v.  Sachsen, 
1854.  2  aufl.  Bensen,  Das  Verhangniss  Magdeburgs.  Also  Droysen's 
Aufsatze  :  I.  Ueber  Magdeburgs  Zerstcirung.  1631.  2.  Die  Schlacht 
von  Liitzen  in  Forschungen  zur  Deutschen  <>eschichte  III.  and  V., 
and  O.  v.  Guericke,  Belagerung  Magdeburgs,  1860. 


SWEDEN   BEFORE  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.      445 

though  in  his  lifetime  he  never  had  the  satisfaction  of  living 
on  peaceful  and  happy  terms  with  his  people. 

He  left  four  sons,  Eric,  John,  Magnus,  and  Charles — the 
last  a  child,  the  others  youths — and  so  deeply  rooted  were 
the  ancient  Germanic  views  of  inheritance  in  the  mind  of 
this  mighty  ruler,  that,  though  he  had  spent  a  long  life  in 
the  arduous  task  of  founding  a  sole  monarchy,  at  the  close 
of  his  life  he  proceeded  to  the  division  of  his  work. 

The  eldest  son,  Eric,  for  whom  he  expressly  intended  the 
crown,  did  not  appear  to  him  adapted  for  the  arduous  task 
of  governing ;  he  therefore  ordained  that  his  brothers  should 
assist  him,  and  conferred  power  on  them  which,  while  it 
would  not  make  them  independent,  would,  he  thought, 
impose  a  wholesome  restraint  on  the  power  of  their 
brother. 

The  result  was  as  unsuccessful  as  possible.  Gustavus 
Adolphus  afterwards  said,  "  My  grandfather  made  a  mis- 
take :  the  King's  brothers  were  too  great  for  subjects — they 
were  sure  to  strive  to  be  masters." 

A  melancholy  reign  of  eight  years  now  began. 

Eric  XIV.,  though  he  possessed  mind,  talent,  and  acquire- 
ment, had  something  of  that  wild  and  stormy  passion,  break- 
ing out  into  unaccountable  actions,  which  was  peculiar  to 
some  branches  of  this  family,  and  which  in -some  cases  re- 
sulted in  insanity  ;  not  only  Eric,  but  Magnus  also,  died 
insane,  and  personages  like  Gustavus  IV.  and  Charles  XII. 
show  how  long  such  traits  may  remain  in  a  family. 

This  did  not  at  first  appear  plainly  in  Eric,  but  it  was 
indicated  by  an  impulsive  feverish  activity.  Scarcely  any 
other  monarch  wrote  and  administered  so  much  as  he  did. 
But  his  hasty,  ill-considered  acts  appear  like  those  of  a 
morbidly  excitable  man,  who  throws  himself  into  business 
to  escape  from  his  own  humours. 

Then  a  tendency  appeared  to  a  dangerous  sort  of  extra- 
vagance, and  after  a  few  years  of  wretched  government  all 
the  mischievous  traits  of  his  character  gradually  unfolded 
themselves.  He  surrounded  himself  with  all  sorts  of  un- 
scrupulous persons,  who  assisted  him  in  his  passionate 
deeds. 

Next,  he  took  one  and  another  for  a  conspirator ;  his 
suspicions  especially  rested  upon  his  brother  John,  who  was 
an  agreeable,  popular  man  ;  he  imprisoned  him,  treated  him 
1'ke  a  criminal,  but  suddenly  drew  back  from  proceeding  to 


446   SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

extremities.  Fear  of  conspiracy  tormented  him  like  an 
evil  conscience,  and  the*;  were  only  too  many  people 
ready  to  make  sport  of  thb  unhappy  tendency.  His  favourite, 
Pehrson,  made  quite  a  trade  of  it,  and  the  King  so  far  forgot 
himself  as  to  commit  reckless  crimes. 

He  stabbed  one  of  the  Stures  in  prison,  and  had  his 
distinguished  fellow-prisoners  slaughtered.  Then  anguish 
of  mind  drove  him  into  the  open  air ;  he  wandered  through 
the  fields  and  woods  in  the  garb  of  a  peasant,  knocked 
down  his  old  tutor  who  accosted  him,  and  then  did  penance 
by  giving  up  his  favourite  to  justice. 

In  a  country  which  had  only  lately  seen  the  establish- 
ment of  royal  authority,  such  a  government  could  not  be 
tolerated.  In  1567  a  ferment  began  to  take  place  ;  a  con- 
spiracy, which  had  been  haunting  men's  minds,  was  actually 
formed ;  the  brothers,  backed  by  the  nobles,  raised  a 
revolt ;  the  burgher  class,  too,  were  weary  of  the  King's 
mad  acts. 

In  September,  1568,  Eric  was  seized,  and  for  nine  years 
was  dragged  from  prison  to  prison — the  best  method,  of 
course,  of  producing  complete  insanity ;  still,  he  was  never 
looked  upon  as  harmless.  This  murder  by  the  State,  of  a 
man  who  was  clearly  not  responsible,  is  unexampled  in 
history.  Seven  years  after  his  dethronement,  the  bishops 
and  ministers  declared  that  if  the  King  did  not  cease  to 
threaten  the  Government,  and  to  furnish  a  pretext  for  revolt 
and  disturbances,  it  would  be  the  duty  of  his  keepers 
to  put  him  out  of  the  way.  In  February,  1577,  he  died 
under  circumstances  which  left  no  doubt  that  this  hint  was 
taken. 

John  then  began  to  reign,  together  with  his  brother,  Duke 
Charles  of  Siidermanland. 

John  was,  on  the  whole,  lenient  and  well-meaning,  but 
had  very  superficial  views  of  his  position  and  vocation. 
Charles,  on  the  contrary,  was  cold,  firm,  severe,  and  re- 
served ;  quite  destitute  of  the  winning  characteristics  of  his 
father,  which  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  inherited  by  John  ; 
though  in  mind  and  political  principles  Charles  most  resem- 
bled him.  As  a  youth  of  eighteen  he  came  forward  to  help 
to  dethrone  his  brother,  and  his  whole  character  was 
stamped  with  determined  ambition. 

In  1688  this  singular  joint  reign  began,  of  two  rulers 
who  were  constantly  opposed  to  each  other  :  and  through 


SWEDEN  BEFORE   GUSTAVUS   ADOLPHUS.      447 

their  contradictions  the  inheritance  of  Gustavus  Vasa  seemed 
likely  to  be  ruined. 

By  this  division  of  the  empire  the  most  essential  condi- 
tion of  a  strong  monarchical  power  was  impaired  ;  it  only 
remained  for  the  regulation  of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  with 
which  Gustavus  Vasa  had  taken  so  much  pains,  to  be  called 
in  question,  and  this  was  done  by  King  John. 

He  was  but  little  acquainted  with  this  question,  so  vital 
for  the  young  Swedish  kingdom,  and  vacillated  between 
Catholic  and  Protestant  opinions.  He  had,  however,  read 
a  good  deal  on  the  subject  superficially,  and  conceived  an 
ambition  similar  to  that  of  Henry  VIII.  He  had  a  project 
for  combining  the  two  parties,  then  a  particularly  difficult 
task. 

He  felt  the  hierarchical  system  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
the  majesty  of  her  worship,  to  be  imposing,  and  those  about 
him  favoured  these  sentiments.  He  had  early  married, 
against  the  will  of  his  brother  Eric,  a  Polish  princess,  who 
was  a  strict  Catholic,  had  great  influence  over  him,  and 
did  all  she  could  to  bring  him  over  to  her  faith.  Jesuits  in 
disguise,  who  appeared  to  be  good  Lutherans,  were  daily 
about  him,  and  at  Rome  his  speedy  conversion  was  confi- 
dently looked  for.  We  have  the  instructions  which  were 
sent  to  the  Jesuits  to  advance  the  work  ;  they  were  always  to 
talk  of  faith,  not  of  works,  and  to  show  that  the  Catholic 
Church  really  enjoined  nothing  different  from  the  Protestant. 

But  Protestantism  in  Sweden  was  not  merely  a  matter  of 
opinion,  which  might  be  adjusted  one  way  or  the  other 
according  to  individual  needs  ;  it  was  a  political  fact  of  the 
greatest  significance.  The  empire  itself  was  based  upon 
it ;  and,  even  if  the  King  was  sincere  in  his  schemes  of  media- 
tion, he  could  not  but  get  into  a  false  position  in  being  cool 
to  a  party  with  which  the  existence  of  the  country  was  bound 
up;  and  in  coquetting  with  the  other,  which  had  no  ad- 
herents in  the  country  except  his  wife. 

He  made  all  sorts  of  futile  efforts  to  effect  a  recon- 
ciliation which  did  not  satisfy  either  party.  He  had 
Catholic  changes  introduced  into  public  worship ;  and  in 
1576  a  new  Liturgy  appeared,  which  was  based  upon  the 
new  Mass  book  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Great  opposition 
was  made  to  this  "  Red  book,"  as  it  was  called  by  the 
people.  He  had  hoped  by  its  means  to  effect  a  recon- 
ciliation between  the  churches,  but  all  the  Swedish  clergy 


448   SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

declared  against  it,  and  yet  it  did  not  go  half  far  enough  to 
please  the  strict  Catholics. 

This  retrograde  tendency  appeared  more  and  more  openly, 
and  it  made  the  King's  position  in  the  country  all  the 
more  difficult.  The  people  said,  "  The  King  is  secretly  a 
Jesuit,  and  wants  to  make  us  all  Catholics  ;  "  and  the  grow- 
ing boldness  of  the  Jesuit  preachers,  the  abolition  of  the 
Lutheran  Catechism,  and  the  ostentation  with  which  the 
Queen  adhered  to  their  faith,  seemed  to  confirm  the  sus- 
picion. 

When  the  Queen  died,  in  1583,  the  Protestant  bishop, 
with  a  courage  which  would  do  honour  to  any  Court 
theologian  of  to-day,  showed  so  little  tact  as  to  laud  her 
as  a  staunch  Catholic.  Though  the  King  now  suddenly 
turned  round,  and  expelled  the  Jesuits  from  the  country, 
yet  he  obstinately  held  fast  to  the  "  Red  book." 

In  another  important  point  John  was  untrue  to  the  tradi- 
tions of  his  father.  In  the  struggle  with  the  Church, 
Gustavus  Vasa  had  not  been  able  to  dispense  with  the 
aid  of  the  secular  nobles,  and  had  therefore  been  obliged 
to  give  them  a  share  of  the  spoil  of  the  Church  property. 
But  it  was  to  be  a  final  concession,  and  no  further  inter- 
ference from  them  with  the  rights  of  the  Crown  or  the 
country  were  to  be  tolerated.  But  on  this  point  John's 
conduct  was  at  least  ambiguous.  He  favoured  the  privileges 
of  the  nobles,  allowed  them  to  divert  public  justice  to  the 
advantage  of  their  class,  lightened  their  obligations  to  the 
Crown,  and  the  service  of  their  vassals,  thereby  increasing  the 
burdens  of  the  burgher  class  and  free  peasants,  who  dreaded  a 
new  government  by  the  aristocracy ;  and,  though  this  made 
the  sentiments  of  all  more  in  favour  of  a  monarchy,  it 
none  the  less  estranged  them  from  the  monarch  himself. 

From  these  two  mistakes  in  the  internal  administration 
arose  a  still  more  serious  complication  in  the  foreign 
policy. 

King  John,  who  had  once  been  himself  attracted  by  the 
worthless  crown  of  Poland,  conceived  the  idea,  after  it  had 
escaped  his  hands,  of  making  his  son,  Sigismund,  King  of 
Poland — that  is,  of  transplanting  him  into  a  country  where 
Catholicism  and  government  by  the  nobles  prevailed  un- 
hindered, and  where  the  state  of  things  was  quite  different 
from  that  of  Sweden. 

The  republic  of  Poland  was  already  on  the  road  to  ruin ; 


SWEDEN   BEFORE   GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.      449 

the  crown  was  not  worth  having.  The  first  principles  of  a 
real  political  administration  would  have  to  be  settled;  the 
arbitrariness  of  the  nobles  and  disruption  of  parties  was 
beyond  all  bounds,  and  a  foreign  king  would  be  betrayed 
and  sold. 

It  was  inconceivable  that  a  man  in  his  senses  should 
entertain  the  idea  of  combining  with  the  difficult  position 
in  Sweden  the  still  more  difficult  one  in  Poland.  The  result 
would  certainly  be  that  the  Swedish  crown  would  be  lost, 
and  the  Polish  one  not  gained. 

Poland  was  then  a  decidedly  Catholic  State — at  any  rate 
its  ruling  elements  were  Catholic  ;  the  King  must,  there- 
fore, be  so  too ;  and  so  the  heir  of  a  thoroughly  Protestant 
country,  who  could  scarcely  tolerate  the  lukewarm  Pro- 
testantism of  its  king,  took,  in  1587,  the  ominous  step 
of  going  over  to  Catholicism  in  order  to  be  King  of  Poland. 

There  was  one  man  who  knew  how  to  take  advantage 
of  these  embarrassments  which  the  King  created  for  him- 
self; but  it  was  also  for  the  advantage  of  Sweden  and  the 
work  of  Gustavus  Vasa  ;  this  was  Charles  of  Siidermanland, 
the  youngest  son  of  Gustavus,  a  cool,  clever,  moderate 
statesman,  who  opposed  every  one  of  his  brother's  mistakes. 

John  introduced  the  "  Red  book  : "  Charles  forbade  its  use. 
John  tried  to  unite  the  two  churches :  Charles  adhered 
strictly  to  Lutheranism,  and  granted  hospitality  to  all  victims 
of  persecution.  John  favoured  the  nobles  :  Charles  checked 
them.  In  short,  Charles  was  the  decided  and  persevering 
representative  of  the  traditions  of  Gustavus  Vasa,  which 
were  ignored  by  John ;  and  was,  therefore,  the  spokesman 
of  all  those  who  were  displeased  with  John's  behaviour, 
especially  of  the  peasant  and  burgher  class — of  all  the 
patriots  to  whose  hearts  modern  Sweden  was  dear,  and 
whose  existence  or  non-existence  was  in  fact  at  stake. 

When  Sigismund  was  made  King  of  Poland,  or  rather 
protector  of  the  Polish  aristocracy  and  their  so-called  con- 
stitution, the  Swedish  nobles  held  up  their  heads.  It  was 
well  known  what  would  be  granted  by  the  Polish  King  to 
those  who  elected  him,  and  they  tried  to  obtain  the  same  in 
Sweden.  Just  as  the  King  of  Poland  was  about  to  embark, 
a  plan  was  handed  to  him,  the  object  of  which  was  nothing 
less  than  the  establishment  of  a  Polish-Swedish  constitution, 
which  simply  set  aside  the  monarchy  of  Gustavus  Vasa. 
They  intended  to  gain  over  King  John  by  accepting  his 

G  G 


450  SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

favourite  Liturgy;  and  to  secure  the  joint  government  of  the 
nobles,  they  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  Parliament  in 
which  seven  of  the  chief  of  them  should  take  it  in  turn,  for 
from  two  to  five  years,  partly  to  exercise  some  of  the  most 
important  prerogatives  of  the  Crown,  partly  to  guard  them. 
John  and  Sigismund  were  weak  enough  to  approve  the 
scheme.  It  was  justly  characterized  by  Gustavus  Adolphus 
when  he  said  that  "they  wanted  to  stab  King  John  and 
Duke  Charles  with  one  spear,  and  thus  to  get  rid  of  them 
both." 

John  left  behind  him,  in  1592,  a  distracted  kingdom. 
His  son  was  away  ;  the  people  and  the  nobles  split  up  into 
factions ;  everything  insecure. 

In  this  time  of  perplexity,  Charles's  activity  began  ;  ambi- 
tion persuaded  him  that  his  path  to  the  throne  was  open, 
and  that  he  alone  was  walking  in  the  steps  of  his  father. 
He  thrust  aside  the  clamorous  nobles,  with  their  proposed 
Senate.  Parliament  might  advise  according  to  Swedish  law, 
but  the  duty  of  ruling  belonged  to  the  sovereign,  and  in  his 
absence  it  became  his  own  duty  to  fill  the  post.  When  the 
King  was  for  a  short  time  in  the  country,  he  made  him  take 
an  oath  to  protect  its  religion  and  laws,  and,  in  accordance 
with  the  wishes  of  the  States,  the  laws  against  the  Catholics 
were  made  more  stringent.  From  1592-1604,  one  diffi- 
culty follows  closely  on  another.  The  King  could  not  carry 
on  the  government  of  two  countries ;  he  was  compelled 
to  appoint  a  regent,  but  his  resolute  and  ambitious  uncle 
was  made  governor  of  the  land,  not  the  Senate  of  seven 
nobles. 

With  the  aid  of  the  peasantry,  he  systematically  opposed 
the  nobles  ;  and  with  the  aid  of  Protestantism,  the  King  and 
Court.  At  a  solemn  assembly  of  the  Diet,  at  Upsala, 
February,  1593,  attended  by  a  great  number  of  ecclesiastics, 
the  irrevocable  determination  of  the  people  was  expressed 
to  abide  by  pure  Lutheran  teaching,  and  everything  was 
abolished  which  had  tended  to  question  the  supremacy  of 
the  Reformation  during  the  reign  of  King  John.  Anger- 
mann,  the  vehement  opponent  of  the  "  Red  book,"  was 
made  archbishop  ;  all  Catholic  innovations  were  abolished, 
and  the  Lutheran  Catechism  reinstated. 

This  was  clearly  a  manifesto  against  the  Catholic  Sigis- 
mund, but  a  still  plainer  one  was  to  be  issued.  The  King 
in  Poland  did  all  he  could  to  embarrass  his  uncle,  and  a 


SWEDEN  BEFORE  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.    451 

party  of  defiant  noblemen  who  lusted  for  Polish  freedom 
held  to  him,  while  Duke  Charles  openly  joined  the  great 
party  of  his  father,  that  of  the  burghers  and  peasants.  In 
the  Senate  he  addressed  them,  not  the  nobles;  and  with 
their  countenance  he  upset  the  obnoxious  project. 

All  the  instigations  of  the  Catholic  camarilla  and  of  the 
ambitious  nobles  were  met  by  the  Swedish  peasants  with 
the  simple  answer,  One  was  master  in  the  country,  and  he 
was  ruling  in  the  spirit  of  Gustavus  Vasa !  Once  more  the 
courageous  Dalecarlians  were  the  chief  support  of  the 
monarchy.  It  came  at  last  to  a  sanguinary  collision. 

The  battle  of  Stangebro,  September,  1598,  went  entirely 
against  Sigismund,  and  his  flight  left  his  followers  to  the 
Regent's  revenge.  The  Diet  of  1604  conferred  on  him  the 
crown  of  Sweden.  Charles  IX.  reigned  after  this  for  seven 
stormy  years. 

Since  1560,  Sweden  had  had  no  real  king  who  could 
keep  down  faction  and  foster  the  interests  of  the  country. 
All  that  had  been  accomplished  by  Gustavus  Vasa — the 
establishment  of  regal  power,  careful  administration  of  the 
laws,  and  a  military  force — had  had  a  severe  shock;  even  the 
religious  revolution  had  been  endangered.  Charles  had  all 
this  to  restore,  while  he  was  kept  in  suspense  by  three  wars. 
The  perpetual  difficulties  with  Sigismund  took  him  to 
Livonia,  where  he  was  compelled  to  break  off  the  contest,  in 
which  he  was  at  first  successful,  by  attacks  from  Russia  and 
Denmark.  He  was  a  broken-down  old  man,  who  had 
almost  lost  the  power  of  speech,  when  Christian  IV.  in- 
vaded the  country  with  a  great  force ;  and  when  Charles 
died,  in  October,  i6n,not  one  of  the  recent  difficulties  was 
adjusted. 

GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS  IN  SWEDEN,  1611-30. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Gustavus  Adolphus,  who 
was  called  upon  in  his  seventeenth  year  to  undertake  a 
most  difficult  task.  It  was  not  his  lot  to  be  greeted  by  the 
unanimous  acclamations  of  a  happy  and  contented  people  ; 
he  was  the  heir  of  irreconcilable  hatred  and  numerous  com- 
plications. His  father  had  had  many  enemies,  and  had 
increased  their  number  by  his  conflicts  with  Sigismund  and 
the  aristocracy ;  all  the  Catholic  party  hated  him  and  his 
house ;  the  resources  of  the  country  were  low ;  his  right  to 


452    SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

the  throne  disputed;  the  kingdom  involved  in  wars  with 
Poland,  Russia,  and  Denmark.  Yet,  in  the  course  of 
twenty  years,  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  triumphed  over  all 
his  foes,  and  established  a  sovereign  power  which  was  in 
a  position  to  take  a  decisive  part  in  the  great  contest  of  the 
age,  and  which  it  required  much  misfortune  and  stupidity 
to  overthrow. 

He  was  born  on  the  ipth  of  December,  1594,  in  the 
midst  of  his  father's  struggle  for  the  crown,  and  he  took 
pains  to  accustom  his  son  to  these  rough  and  stormy  times. 
When  he  was  eleven  years  old,  he  took  him  with  him  to 
the  sittings  of  the  Senate,  and  allowed  him  to  attend  and 
even  speak  at  his  audiences.  An  interest  in  military  life 
was  early  awakened  in  him.  There  was  ample  opportunity 
to  cultivate  this  taste  at  his  father's  Court,  which  was  visited 
by  officers  from  almost  all  the  European  Courts,  and  the 
campaigns  in  which  he  took  part  completed  the  course  of 
instruction.  At  the  same  time,  his  father  took  care  that  his 
successor  should  receive  a  careful  mental  training  and 
learned  education,  such  as,  in  the  variety  of  subjects  it 
embraced,  no  other  northern  monarch  had  yet  enjoyed. 
While  still  quite  young,  he  spoke  Latin,  German,  Dutch, 
French,  and  Italian  fluently,  amused  himself  with  Xeno- 
phon,  and  diligently  studied  Hugo  Grotius.  With  all  this 
early  familiarity  with  politics,  war,  and  learning,  physical 
training  was  not  neglected. 

In  short,  the  old  king*  might  regard  his  successor  with 
pride ;  he  was  leaving  behind  him  a  second  Gustavus  Vasa. 

The  young  king's  first  task  was  to  heal  the  disorders  of 
fifty  years,  which  existed  in  every  department  of  the  State. 

The  most  difficult  task  was  the  restoration  of  healthy 
relations  with  the  nobles.  His  father  had  sent  many  a 
seditious  nobleman  to  the  scaffold,  which  had  sown  the 
seeds  of  fearful  hatred,  and  was  not  the  path  to  successful 
reorganization. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  took  the  kingdom  upon  himself 
"with  two  empty  hands,"  as  it  was  said  in  his  funeral 
sermon.  With  three  wars  on  hand,  he  had  neither  money 
nor  trustworthy  troops.  Both  had  to  be  raised,  and  it  could 
only  be  done  by  a  reorganization  of  his  relations  with  the 

*  From  the  admonitions,  written  and  spoken,  which  he  addressed  to 
his  son,  it  appears  what  a  high-minded  spirit  this  rough,  harsh  ruler 
possessed. 


GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS  IN  SWEDEN.     453 

nobles.  With  their  large  landed  property,  their  vassals, 
and  legal  and  administrative  privileges,  they  were  practi- 
cally exempt  from  taxation,  and,  though  thoroughly  warlike, 
they  were  entirely  unaccustomed  to  military  service  as 
followers  of  the  King.  It  was  necessary  that  this  state  of 
things  should  cease,  and  that  it  should  be  accomplished, 
not  by  violence,  but  by  agreement  and  treaty,  if  the 
citizens  and  peasants  were  not  to  succumb  to  the  burden  of 
taxation,  and  the  State  itself  to  be  divided  up  into  a  number 
of  aristocratic  courts  under  "  provincial  kings." 

The  war  with  Denmark,  which  came  to  an  end  in  1613, 
was  so  unsuccessful  mainly  because  the  nobles  furnished 
the  King  neither  with  men  nor  money.  The  King  re- 
minded them,  in  an  address  which  he  made  to  them  clad  in 
armour,  that  they  only  received  their  privileges  in  return  for 
"  equestrian  service,"  and  that  he,  who,  instead  of  doing  his 
duty  in  the  field,  had  preferred  to  stay  by  the  stuff,  had, 
according  to  Swedish  law,  forfeited  his  privileges. 

After  various  negotiations,  often  interrupted,  he  at  length 
succeeded  in  establishing  permanent,  well-regulated  rela- 
tions, which  both  parties  found  to  be  to  their  advantage. 

The  King,  in  the  main,  permitted  the  nobles  to  retain 
their  traditional  privileges,  and  even  granted  them  a  new 
one,  by  the  establishment  of  an  Upper  House ;  but  he  was 
in  earnest  in  compelling  them  to  join  the  army,  and  effected 
that  they  should  not  be  behind  the  other  classes  in  money 
contributions. 

The  Swedish  nobles  had  always  been  a  warlike  race ; 
every  nobleman  was  a  soldier,  and  the  greatest  lords  always 
came  to  attend  the  meetings  of  Parliament  with  hundreds 
of  horses.  But  the  sovereign  had  hitherto  only  experienced 
the  dark  side  of  this  feature  of  Swedish  chivalry — defiant 
demands,  and  unpatriotic  self-sufficiency.  Under  Gustavus 
Adolphus  all  this  was  changed  within  certain  limits.  The 
nobles  found  themselves  an  acknowledged  power,  and  on 
good  terms  with  the  Crown ;  their  warlike  ambition  was  no 
longer  in  contradiction  to  their  class  feelings  and  privileges ; 
they  soon  considered  it  an  honour  to  serve  this  chivalrous 
King,  as  leader  of  the  nation's  forces  ;  and  the  King,  as  the 
representative  of  the  army  as  well  as  of  the  people,  ap- 
peared even  in  the  Senate  in  armour.  In  1627  the  relations 
between  them  had  become  so  cordial  that  the  nobles, 
who  already  took  a  share  of  most  of  the  taxes,  took  upon 


454   SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

themselves  to  furnish  recruits  for  the  general  levy  from  their 
estates. 

This  was  the  result  of  the  prudent  and  personally  winning 
manner  in  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  went  to  work.  It  had 
never  been  thus  in  Sweden  before,  and  has  never  been  so 
since.  All  his  successors  have  split  upon  this  rock. 

With  these  weapons  Gustavus  Adolphus  fought  his  way 
through  two  great  wars,  by  the  end  of  which  Sweden  was 
the  first  great  power  in  the  north,  and  was  competent  to 
take  her  place  as  arbiter  in  Europe. 

While  these  things  were  being  slowly  matured,  Gustavus 
had  undertaken  energetic  creative  reforms  in  other  spheres. 
The  administration  and  the  whole  legal  system  had  under- 
gone a  thorough  revolution  ;  the  former  was  committed  to 
carefully  chosen  officials,  under  proper  control ;  for  the 
latter,  new  rules  and  new  municipal  laws  were  introduced, 
as  a  completion  of  the  common  law  of  Charles  IX.  Two 
courts  of  appeal  were  also  established  against  the  sentences 
of  the  district  courts  and  the  patrimonial  judges.  In  legal 
matters  the  sentiments  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  were  those  of 
a  really  great  ruler.  In  a  dispute  which  was  tried  between 
him  and  a  nobleman,  he  said  to  the  judges,  "  Forget  that  I 
am  King;  but  do  not  forget  that  you  are  the  highest  judges 
in  the  land,  and  let  your  consciences  pass  sentence."  And 
as  they  decided  against  him,  he  asked  for  the  documents, 
convinced  himself  that  he  had  been  in  the  wrong,  and  com- 
mended the  judges  for  their  conscientiousness.  In  a  pro- 
tocol of  the  Supreme  Court  of  5th  November,  1618,  are  the 
words  :  "  His  Majesty  admonishes  the  royal  courts  of 
justice  not  to  take  the  side  of  any  party.  If  any  one  of 
the  judges  should  turn  aside  the  law  in  favour  of  the  King 
or  of  any  one  else,  let  him  know  that  it  is  his  Majesty's  in- 
tention to  have  him  scalped,  his  head  nailed  to  the  seat 
of  judgment,  and  his  ears  to  the  pillory." 

The  administration  of  public  justice  also  underwent  a 
change  little  in  accordance  with  modern  liberalism,  but  all 
the  more  in  unison  with  the  strictly  military  monarchy  of 
the  Sweden  of  that  day. 

By  a  new  regulation  of  the  Diet,  which  was  accepted  by 
the  States  assembled  at  Oerobro  in  January,  1617,  the  right 
of  initiative  was  conferred  exclusively  on  the  Crown.  The 
Crown  only  could  bring  forward  motions,  and  no  othei 
subjects  were  discussed.  Each  estate  deliberated  by  itself, 


GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS  IN  SWEDEN.     455 

and  the  King  pronounced  the  decision.  The  Diet  was 
no  longer  the  scene  of  the  intrigues  which  had  occasioned 
so  many  difficulties  to  Charles  IX. ;  its  power  had,  in  fact, 
vanished,  and  this,  as  well  as  the  new  legal  system,  formed  a 
counterpoise  to  the  privileges  of  the  nobles. 

Together  with  this  organization,  untiring  efforts  were 
made  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  oppressed  people. 

Ruined  cities,  such  as  Gothenburg,  were  rebuilt ;  sixteen 
new  ones  founded,  and  their  prosperity  secured  by  good 
constitutions  and  mercantile  privileges;  navigation,  com- 
merce, and  the  export  of  the  products  of  the  country — • 
timber,  copper,  iron,  pitch,  and  tar — were  encouraged ; 
restrictions  imposed  on  the  introduction  of  foreign  manu- 
factures ;  Swedish  products  were  introduced  into  the  great 
markets  by  means  of  commercial  treaties;  so  that  in  1614 
Sweden  maintained  active  intercourse  with  Holland,  and 
after  1624  Swedish  merchants  conveyed  pitch,  iron,  planks, 
and  rye  in  their  own  ships  as  far  as  Spain.  Skilful  foreigners 
were  attracted  to  the  country ;  one  of  these  found  means  to 
raise  the  mines  of  Sweden  to  a  high  state  of  prosperity  ;  and 
the  King  established  a  manufactory  of  arms  and  military 
requisites  on  a  large  scale.  All  this  brought  the  fact  to 
light  that  a  people  who  had  hitherto  been  supposed  to  be 
exclusively  adapted  for  war,  agriculture,  and  fishing,  under 
judicious  guidance  could  develope  a  capacity  for  industrial 
pursuits  of  every  kind. 

The  dark  background  of  this  active  creative  life  is  formed 
by  the  three  sanguinary  wars  which  Gustavus  Adolphus 
inherited  from  his  father,  in  which  he,  his  state,  and  army, 
had  to  stand  a  fiery  ordeal. 

These  wars,  as  well  as  the  war  in  Germany,  were  espe- 
cially aimed  at  the  acquisition  of  dominion  over  the  Baltic ; 
it  was  Gustavus  Adolphus  who  projected  this  as  a  leading 
idea  of  Swedish  policy,  and  he  pursued  it  with  remarkable 
success. 

When  he  entered  upon  this  project  all  the  south  of  Sweden 
was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Danes,  together  with  the  keys 
of  the  Baltic  and  the  North  Sea,  Calmar  and  Elfsborg. 
Sweden  was  quite  shut  out  from  the  sea.  In  this  situation 
every  attack  of  the  Danes  threatened  the  existence  of  the 
whole  country,  and  this  explains  the  obstinate  war  into 
which  the  young  King  was  compelled  to  enter  at  the  very 
beginning  of  his  reign,  in  which  neither  party  was  victo- 


456   SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

rious,  though  it  caused  unspeakable  desolation  in  Sweden. 
By  the  Treaty  of  Knarod,  January,  1613,  both  parties  had 
to  give  up  what  they  had  taken  from  the  other.  Sweden 
received,  under  the  form  of  a  purchase,  for  one  million 
dollars,  the  highly  important  points  of  Calmar,  Oeland, 
Elfsborg,  and  the  surrounding  country.  This  was  the  first 
step  towards  the  creation  of  the  Swedish  naval  power. 

The  war  with  Russia  was  more  successful. 

With  the  revolt  of  Michael  Romanow,  in  1613,  Russia 
began  to  free  herself  from  the  troubles  occasioned  by  pre- 
tenders to  the  throne,  foreign  interference,  and  the  immigra- 
tion of  foreign  nations.  Still  it  was  but  the  beginning  of 
a  normal  political  life ;  no  power  existed  sufficient  to 
oppose  Gustavus  Adolphus.  The  Swedes  were  everywhere 
victorious,  and  peace  was  bought  at  a  very  high  price. 
By  the  Treaty  of  Stolbowa,  February,  1617,  Sweden  received 
Carelia,  Ingermanland,  and  Livonia;  that  is,  Russia  lost 
the  Baltic. 

This  was  an  immense  success.  With  just  pride  Gustavus 
Adolphus  could  say  to  his  Parliament,  in  the  spring  of 
1617,  "Not  the  least  of  the  benefits  which  God  has 
granted  Sweden  is  that  Russia  must  for  ever  give  up  the 
robbers'  den  from  which  she  has  so  often  molested  us. 
She  is  a  dangerous  neighbour ;  her  frontiers  extend  along 
the  North  and  the  Caspian  Sea  and  approach  the  Black 
Sea ;  she  has  a  powerful  aristocracy,  a  superfluity  of  pea- 
sants, populous  cities,  and  can  send  large  armies  into  the 
field.  But  she  cannot  send  any  vessel  into  the  Baltic  Sea 
without  our  leave.  We  are  separated  from  her  by  the  great 
Lakes  of  Ladoga  and  Peipus,  thirty  miles  of  marsh  and 
strong  fortresses.  Russia  is  shut  out  from  the  Baltic,  and  I 
hope  to  God  that  the  Muscovite  will  henceforth  find  it 
difficult  to  leap  over  this  brook." 

Sweden  then  possessed  all  those  points  to  which  the 
Russian  Empire  afterwards  extended  itself,  the  main  part 
of  the  territory  which  Peter  the  Great  acquired  for  Russia 
for  ever.  Sweden  made  good  her  claims  upon  Livonia, 
seized  parts  of  Courland  and  Esthonia,  conquered  one 
Polish  and  Prussian  harbour  after  another,  and  finally 
received,  at  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  the  mouths  of  the 
Oder,  the  Weser,  and  the  Elbe,  Pomerania,  Bremen,  and 
Verden — in  short,  "  the  whole  bastion  of  the  Crown  of 
Sweden,"  as  Axel  Oxenstierna  expressed  it.  It  was  an  im- 


GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS   IN   SWEDEN.  457 

mense  district  on  the  Baltic  coasts,  in  the  power  of  a  State 
hitherto  the  poorest  of  all  in  coast  territory. 

The  third  and  last  war  with  Poland  lasted  till  1629.  The 
enmity  between  Poland  and  Sweden  was  vastly  increased  by 
the  contest  about  the  right  to  the  throne  of  the  two  lines  of 
Vasa.  In  Poland  the  King  of  Sweden  was  called  a 
usurper.  Sigismund's  Catholic  followers  joined  cause  with 
all  the  foes  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  the  Polish  coast  of 
the  Baltic  was  quite  enough  to  become  an  apple  of  discord. 
The  last  war  was  also  the  most  successful  for  Sweden. 

By  the  truce  which  ended  it  in  1629,  Sweden  received 
Elbing,  Braunsberg,  Pillau,  Memel,  and  her  claims  were 
recognised  to  the  Baltic  territory. 

During  this  warlike  period  of  eighteen  years,  not  only 
had  a  vast  empire  been  conquered,  a  school  of  generals 
and  warriors  had  been  trained  such  as  had  not  been  seen 
in  Europe  since  the  decline  of  the  Spanish  school.  Yet, 
singularly  enough,  when  the  news  came  to  Vienna  of  the 
landing  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  they  looked  in  the  State 
Almanack  to  see  where  the  country  of  the  little  Gothic  king 
was  situated. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

GUSTAVUS   ADOLPHUS    IN   GERMANY,    1630-32. 

Origin  and  Significance  of  the  Swedish  "War. — Motives,  Political  and 
Religious,  of  Gustavus  Adolphus. — Characteristics  of  him  and  his 
Army. — Their  Landing  and  First  Successes,  June — December, 
1630. — Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Pomerania. — Siege  of  Stettin  ; 
Treaty  with  Duke  Bogeslav. — Tedious  Advance  into  Pomerania. — • 
Imperial  troops  driven  out  of  Pomerania,  December,  1630. — 
Treaty  of  Barwalde,  January,  1631. — Convention  of  Leipzig,  and 
Fall  of  Magdeburg,  May,  1631. — Electoral  Brandenburg  and 
Electoral  Hesse  join  Gustavus  Adolphus,  June — August. — Battle 
of  Breitenfeld,  September  7,  1631. — Victorious  March  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  towards  South  and  West  Germany,  October — December, 
1631. — Plans  for  Restoration. — Overthrow  of  the  Power  of  the 
League. — Return  of  Wallenstein,  April,  1632. — Battle  of  Liitzen, 
i6th  November,  1632. — Death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  its 
Significance. 

ORIGIN  AND  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  WAR. 

THE  invasion  of  Germany  by  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  a 
result  of  the  protection  he  had  afforded  to  Stralsund 
against  Wallenstein,  and  this  protection  was  a  result  of  his 
relations  with  the  Baltic  and  with  the  Reformation.  He  could 
never  hope  to  rule  the  Baltic  so  long  as  Mecklenburg  and 
Pomerania  were  in  the  hands  of  the  imperial  party,  and  the 
opposition  Polish  king  had  a  support  in  the  Hapsburgs — in- 
deed his  own  kingdom  would  be  endangered  if  the  Catholic 
Restoration  were  not  energetically  opposed. 

The  same  controversy  about  which  the  world-wide  war 
in  Germany  had  broken  out,  was  raging  in  Sweden  ;  it  was 
only  the  iron  grasp  of  Charles  IX.  which  had  kept  the 
monarchy  of  Gustavus  Vasa  above  water  ;  and  the  country 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Baltic  was  the  seat  of  perpetual 
intrigues  to  undo  his  work.  If  this  were  allowed  to  go  on, 


CHARACTER  OF  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.        459 

a  time  would  come  when  his  own  kingdom  would  be  in 
the  same  danger  as  the  little  states  of  North  Germany. 

And  this  was  no  idle  dream.  Since  Wallenstein's  suc- 
cesses, the  wings  of  the  reaction  had  almost  overshadowed 
the  Scandinavian  States. 

The  Emperor  Ferdinand  and  his  brother-in-law,  Sigis- 
mund,  had  been  eagerly  discussing  how  Sweden  could  be 
made  Catholic ;  at  what  point  the  attempt  at  conversion 
which  King  John  had  been  compelled  to  give  up,  had  best 
be  taken  up  again ;  and  they  had  great  hopes  of  attaining 
their  end.  The  truce  which  had  cost  Poland  so  many  losses 
on  the  Baltic,  lasted  purposely  until  Sigismund,  with  the 
aid  of  the  Emperor,  had  recruited  his  strength,  and  for  years 
the  latter  had  openly  taken  part  in  Poland  against  Gustavus 
Adolphus. 

There  were  also  pressing  Swedish  interests  which  impelled 
Gustavus  to  join  in  the  contest,  and  to  overlook  these  would 
be  to  misunderstand  the  position  of  affairs.  But  these  were 
not  his  only  points  of  view. 

In  one  respect  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  a  unique  person- 
age in  this  century ;  he  was  animated  by  the  fresh,  unbroken 
youthful  spirit  of  the  early  days  of  the  Reformation,  like 
that  which  characterized  such  men  as  Frederic  of  Saxony 
and  Philip  of  Hesse.  If  it  can  be  said  of  any  ruler  in  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  that  he  was  filled  with 
Protestant  zeal  and  sincere  enthusiasm  for  the  greatness  of 
his  cause,  it  may  be  said  of  him,  and  of  him  alone.  To  a 
world  full  of  mean  artifices,  miserable  intrigues,  and  narrow- 
minded  men,  he  exhibited  once  more  the  qualities  and 
characteristics  of  a  true  hero. 

This  explains  why  he  called  forth  enthusiasm  where  it  had 
been  for  many  decades  unknown — why  he  succeeded  in 
kindling  men's  minds  for  ideas  which  had  been  engulfed  in 
the  miseries  of  the  times.  Sacred  things  were  no  idle  sport 
with  him.  Because  he  was  himself  in  earnest  with  his 
prayers  and  religion,  the  divine  worship  which  was  held,  the 
spiritual  songs  and  psalms  that  were  sung  in  his  camp,  had 
power  to  restrain  the  terrible  brute  strength  of  his  army  ; 
but  it  was  he  alone  who  succeeded  in  it,  not  one  of  his 
successors  could  do  so. 

His  mind  was  also  large  enough  in  a  fearfully  demoralised 
age  to  go  back  to  the  origin  of  the  peaceful  relations  which 
had  existed  between  the  adherents  of  the  different  creeds 


460   SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

for  more  than  half  a  century.  He  alone  proclaimed  the 
principle  that  the  object  was  not  mutual  destruction,  but  the 
restoration  of  the  law  as  it  existed  before  the  war  ;  he  alone 
restored  their  rights  to  the  Protestants  without  encroaching 
on  those  of  the  Catholics.  This  was  something  in  a  con- 
test in  which  both  parties  had  become  so  fearfully  embittered. 
He  could  justly  say  to  the  princes  and  nobles  at  Nurem- 
berg, "  For  shame,  that  I,  the  foreigner,  must  teach  you 
your  natural  duty  !  " 

It  was  this  that  gave  importance  to  the  following  war. 
During  the  whole  period  Gustavus  was  the  only  person  to 
whom  men  could  look  up,  who  could  inspire  them  with 
enthusiasm.  The  Catholic  party  did  not  produce  any  indi- 
vidual of  equal  greatness  to  confront  him.  This  gave  to 
Protestantism,  in  the  days  of  its  deepest  dejection,  an 
unaccustomed  impetus,  and  the  part  played  by  this  one 
man  is  shown  by  the  retrogression  which  took  place  only 
too  quickly  after  his  death. 

There  is  another  point  on  which  this  episode  is  of  impor- 
tance. It  was  not  only  that  the  weight  of  a  great  and 
powerful  personage  was  thrown  into  the  scale,  that  of  a  king 
and  a  general  to  whom  no  one,  and  least  of  all  Ferdinand  II., 
could  be  compared  ;  Gustavus  Adolphus  commanded  the 
only  army  in  this  war  which  either  did  not  soon  get  beyond 
discipline  and  control,  or  at  any  rate  throw  off  its  distinc- 
tive creed.  Who  could  call  the  armies  around  him,  or  after 
him,  either  Catholic  or  Protestant  ?  In  the  imperial  armies 
there  were  masses  of  Protestant  hirelings,  especially  in 
those  of  Wallenstein,  and  as  many  Catholics  among  the 
troops  of  their  opponents.  The  most  deplorable  thing  in 
this  war  was,  that,  especially  after  the  fourth  decade,  those 
who  were  carrying  it  on  had  entirely  forgotten  its  origin — 
that  everything  had  been  engulfed  in  passion  and  tumult, 
and  that  religion  had  only  become  a  blasphemous  pretext 
for  horrible  devastation  and  plunder. 

All  this  was  quite  otherwise  in  the  army  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  Even  after  his  death  it  continued  to  be  brave 
and  well  commanded,  though  there  was  no  one  capable  of 
keeping  up  its  spirit,  its  inner  life,  as  he  had  done. 

The  armies  of  his  adversaries  consisted  of  collections  of 
rabble  without  country  or  conscience.  His  army  was  a 
national  Swedish  one ;  his  soldiers  were  Sweden's  brave 
peasants,  led  by  their  chivalrous  nobles.  All  the  national 


GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS   AND  HIS   ARMY.        461 

enthusiasm  of  the  people  and  the  aristocracy  lived  in  these 
hosts,  and  this  was  a  most  important  factor  against  the 
hireling  troops,  who  looked  for  nothing  in  war  but  plunder, 
debauchery,  and  excess. 

The  Swedish  army  was  also  religious.  It  was  Lutheran, 
like  its  King,  and  every  feature  indicated  that  it  was  so.  The 
neglected  levers  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  still  in  use. 
"Ein'  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott,"  "A  mighty  castle  is  our  God," 
was  sung,  understood,  and  sympathized  with.  What  a  fear- 
ful contrast  were  the  lawless  bands  who,  in  the  name  of  the 
one  true  faith,  tore  our  unhappy  country  to  pieces  ! 

This  gave  a  consecration  to  this  war.  Gustavus  Adolphus 
managed  to  control  the  wild  lawless  masses  by  higher 
motives ;  sentiments  of  nationality  and  religion  had  some 
weight  with  them.  All  this  was  changed  by  his  death. 
After  this,  when  a  battle  was  lost,  some  of  the  Swedes  took 
service  under  the  Emperor,  and  they  were  in  no  way  behind 
the  other  soldiers  in  barbarity  towards  defenceless  citizens 
and  peasants. 

It  was  this  which  conferred  on  the  war  of  1630  a  peculiar 
greatness,  notwithstanding  its  short  duration,  and  caused  it 
soon  to  lose  the  character  of  a  mere  invasion.  Gustavus 
Adolphus  became  a  leading  personage,  Sweden  a  command- 
ing power  in  Europe.  This  arose  from  his  personal  charac- 
ter, the  character  of  his  army,  and  the  moral  power  of  both 
over  Catholics  and  Protestants.  Even  the  Pope  did  homage 
to  the  hero,  and  said,  on  hearing  of  his  death,  "  A  hero,  a 
perfect  man,  who  wanted  nothing  for  perfection  but  the  true 
faith." 

There  was  nothing  of  this  spirit  to  be  found  anywhere 
else.  Who  would  venture  to  call  a  Wallenstein,  a  Tilly,  or 
a  Pappenheim,  a  Catholic  hero  ? 

LANDING  AND  FIRST  SUCCESSES,  JUNE — DECEMBER,  1630. 

The  situation  of  affairs  in  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  now 
began  to  take  part  has  been  characterized  by  our  previous 
remarks. 

The  power  of  the  League  had  been  for  two  years  on  the 
decline,  and  the  Emperor  had  done  all  that  was  in  his 
power  to  weaken  it.  He  had  created  for  himself  the 
embarrassment  occasioned  by  the  Edict  of  Restitution, 
and  thereby  driven  the  Protestant  states  into  the  enemy's 


462    SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

camp,  and  now  he  had  dismissed  Wallenstein  into  the 
bargain. 

In  so  far,  then,  the  situation  was  more  favourable  than 
ever.  Had  Gustavus  come  three  years  earlier,  when  Wal- 
lenstein was  victorious  on  the  Baltic,  the  Edict  not  yet 
issued,  and  the  League  still  strong  in  the  field,  the  struggle 
would  have  been  a  desperate  one. 

It  was  by  no  means  a  slight  one  as  it  was,  and  there  was 
something  so  adventurous  in  the  commencement  of  the 
undertaking,  that  any  less  courageous  person  must  have 
shrunk  from  it.  In  Sweden,  except  the  King  and  his  im- 
patient officers,  there  was  not  a  man  for  the  war.  The 
country  was  recovering  itself,  after  the  sacrifices  and  suf- 
ferings of  eighteen  years  of  warfare,  and  was  now  to  be 
involved  in  another  great  war,  the  end  of  which  no  one 
could  foresee.  Parliament  would  not  be  convinced  that 
instead  of  adhering  to  a  watchful  defensive  policy  towards 
the  Emperor,  it  was  necessary  to  adopt  an  offensive  attitude 
exposed  to  a  thousand  dangers.  The  States  declared  that 
there  was  no  money,  and  tormented  the  King  with  their 
blunt  refusals  until  immediately  before  his  departure. 

After  the  hated  King's  back  was  turned,  Denmark  seemed 
disposed  to  attack  the  country ;  and,  until  there  was  some 
result  to  show,  nothing  but  smooth  words  came  from 
France,  England,  and  Holland ;  and  nothing  whatever  was 
to  be  expected  from  the  German  princes  whom  it  was  in- 
tended to  aid. 

The  Duke  of  Pomerania,  to  whom  Gustavus  Adolphus 
hoped  to  appear  in  the  light  of  a  liberator,  sent  an  embassy 
to  him  just  as  he  was  about  to  embark,  urgently  to  entreat 
him  to  stay  at  home,  or,  at  all  events,  not  to  land  in 
Pomerania,  for  the  country  was  already  nearly  ruined,  and 
could  not  stand  the  passage  of  troops  again. 

On  24th  June,  1630,  exactly  one  hundred  years  after  the 
presentation  of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  Gustavus 
Adolphus  appeared  before  the  island  of  Usedom,  and  at 
once  began  to  disembark  his  troops  and  artillery. 

He  was  preceded  by  a  manifesto,  which  set  forth  all  his 
causes  of  complaint  against  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  and 
explained  that  the  King  came  to  protect  liberty  in  general, 
which  was  threatened  by  Hapsburg,  and  in  particular  that 
of  the  German  Electors,  who  had  just  presented  their  ulti- 
matum to  the  Emperor  at  Ratisbon. 


FIRST  LANDING  IN   GERMANY.  463 

The  project  was  certainly  well  enough  conceived,  but 
still  it  produced  no  immediate  result. 

Germany  was  invaded  by  a  splendid  force  of  20,000  or 
30,000  men,  but  the  German  empire  remained  to  be  conquered. 
Suppose  the  feeling  should  be,  Away  with  the  foreigner,  who 
could  find  fault  with  it  ?  Suppose  the  Germans,  who  had 
been  tearing  each  other's  eyes  out,  should  now  make  peace 
to  avoid  the  disgrace  of  foreign  intervention,  who  could 
regard  it  as  anything  but  an  act  of  reasonable  self-defence  ? 
Such  sentiments  did  here  and  there  arise.  It  was  asked, 
"  What  will  become  of  us  if  strangers  insinuate  themselves 
amongst  us  and  meddle  in  our  affairs  ?  "  But  these  feelings 
were  not  strong  enough  to  unite  parties,  or  to  oppose  a 
compact  front  to  the  foreigner. 

Still,  he  was  regarded  with  suspicion  and  distrust ;  only  if 
it  came  to  the  worst  would  the  Protestants  side  with  him. 
The  attitude  of  Saxony  and  Brandenburg  towards  the 
Emperor,  or  rather  their  want  of  a  decided  attitude,  was 
the  result  of  mere  weakness,  and  fear  withheld  them  from 
risking  anything  for  Sweden.  The  other  Protestant  elements 
were  isolated.  The  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel  was  a  long 
way  off,  and  could  not  render  any  help,  for  he  wanted  help 
himself.  The  imperial  cities  of  South  Germany  looked 
eagerly  towards  Gustavus  Adolphus,  but  could  do  nothing 
at  so  great  a  distance :  their  adherence  would  only  be 
possible  if  great  victories  brought  him  to  South  Germany. 

The  King  was  therefore  in  utter  isolation  on  German 
soil ;  and  not  only  so,  his  line  of  retreat  was  quite  insecure. 
His  great  distance  from  home,  the  watchful  enmity  of  Den- 
mark and  Poland,  who  were  only  awaiting  a  favourable 
moment  for  attack,  could  but  lead  to  a  fatal  catastrophe 
if  he  met  with  a  decided  repulse  half  way. 

Under  such  circumstances,  it  required  a  bold,  adventurous 
spirit  to  undertake  the  invasion,  and  much  prudence  and 
foresight  not  to  make  shipwreck  at  the  very  outset. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  was  quite  equal  to  the  task.  He 
proceeded  like  a  man  who  accurately  weighs  every  consi- 
deration and  the  means  at  his  disposal,  and,  knowing  that  he 
cannot  retrace  his  path,  advances  only  step  by  step,  and 
sometimes  by  circuitous  paths. 

The  imperial  army  under  Conti,  which  opposed  him  in 
Pomerania  and  Mecklenburg,  might  be  equal,  if  not  superior, 
to  his  in  numbers.  It  was  in  possession  of  all  the  places 


464   SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

which  it  had  won  during  the  successful  warfare  of  several 
years,  but  it  was  deprived  of  the  great  leader  who  had 
created  and  kept  it  together.  It  suffered  from  hunger, 
desertion,  and  discouragement,  was  widely  scattered,  in  part 
given  up  by  its  leaders,  and  therefore  it  melted  away  day 
by  day,  and  was  ill  adapted  to  repulse  a  resolute,  well- 
conducted  attack,  though  it  made  any  advance  into  the 
country  very  difficult. 

The  first  success  of  Gustavus  worth  naming,  after  taking 
the  islands  of  Riigen  and  Wollin  by  surprise,  was  the  occu- 
pation of  Stettin  in  July. 

It  took  place  under  circumstances  which  were  striking 
enough.  The  Protestant  population  trembled  at  the  horrors 
which  had  been  connected  with  every  occupation  by  foreign 
troops,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant.  Bogeslav  feared 
the  Emperor's  reprisals  if  a  change  should  take  place,  and 
threatened  hostilities  if  the  Swedes  did  not  keep  themselves 
at  a  respectful  distance.  But  Gustavus  would  not  be  re- 
pulsed, rejected  every  proposal  of  neutrality,  and  so  pressed 
the  anxious  Duke  that  with  a  heavy  heart  he  at  length 
granted  them  entrance.  The  Swedes  behaved  admirably ; 
they  were  not,  like  other  troops,  quartered  on  the  citizens, 
but  lived  in  tents,  went  peacefully  with  the  inhabitants  to 
church,  and,  with  great  energy,  in  four  days  constructed  a 
system  of  fortifications  round  the  town  which  might  have 
served  for  a  model,  not  for  that  period  only. 

At  the  same  time  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  Swe- 
den and  Pomerania,  which  not  only  established  a  perpetual 
alliance,  but  dexterously  provided  that  in  the  event  of  Duke 
Bogeslav's  death  Pomerania  should  fall  to  Sweden,  which 
afterwards  took  place. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  tedious  warfare  by  means 
of  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  spread  his  forces  over  Pome- 
rania, Mecklenburg,  and  Brandenburg.  Napoleon  consi- 
dered him  to  be  the  greatest  general  of  all  times,  chiefly  be- 
cause, during  a  dangerous  and  tedious  campaign,  from  June, 
1630,  to  the  autumn  of  1631,  he  advanced  slowly,  but  surely, 
towards  the  centre  of  Germany  without  suffering  any  repulse 
worth  mentioning.  It  was  upon  these  tactics  that  the  whole 
fate  of  his  undertaking  depended ;  not  a  single  false  step  must 
be  made.  And  this  solves  the  much-disputed  question  why 
he  did  not  relieve  Magdeburg  while  it  was  still  possible  to 
do  so. 


RICHELIEU  AND   GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.       465 

Magdeburg  was  certainly  an  important  place  as  the  capital 
of  North  Germany,  and  the  most  prosperous  seat  of  Pro- 
testantism. But  important  as  he  must  have  considered  its 
fate,  he  could  not  sacrifice  his  existence,  the  results  of  three 
great  wars,  the  army  which  it  had  taken  him  nineteen  years 
to  create,  by  placing  himself  between  two  fires,  and  involving 
himself  in  a  catastrophe  which  the  authorities  of  the  city 
had  brought  upon  themselves  by  culpable  imprudence. 

Nothing  occurred  during  the  summer  of  1630  but  an 
advance  step  by  step  into  North  Germany.  It  took  months 
to  get  the  whole  of  Pomerania  into  his  hands,  and  to 
conquer  every  town,  and  months  more  before  he  had  gained 
a  firm  footing  in  Brandenburg. 

So  difficult  was  the  situation  that  his  own  brother-in-law, 
in  Brandenburg,  afterwards  only  allowed  a  few  fortresses  to 
be  taken  from  him  by  force. 

On  24th  December  a  decisive  blow  was  struck  at  the 
flower  of  the  imperial  troops,  who,  tortured  by  cold  and 
hunger,  were  lying  between  Greifenhagen  and  Garz.  The 
whole  of  Pomerania,  with  the  exception  of  Colberg  and 
Greifswald,  and  part  of  Neumark,  was  now  in  his  power  ; 
but  his  only  allies  were  Francis  of  Saxe  Lauenburg,  the 
exiled  Dukes  of  Mecklenburg,  the  Administrator  Christian 
William  of  Magdeburg,  and  Bogeslav  of  Pomerania;  with  the 
exception  of  the  latter,  princes  without  land. 

The  most  laborious  part  of  the  campaign  was  now  over, 
and  it  had  become  obvious  to  every  one  that  the  Swedish 
war  was  no  repetition  of  the  unhappy  Danish  one,  which 
had  been  conducted  without  the  least  skill  or  success.  In 
the  present  instance  resolute  determination  and  prudent 
foresight  were  singularly  combined. 

TREATY  OF  BARWALDE,  JANUARY,  1631. — CONVENTION  OF 
LEIPZIG  AND  FALL  OF  MAGDEBURG,  MAY,  1631. — VIC- 
TORY OF  BREITENFELD,  SEPTEMBER,  1631. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  new  year  a  new  ally  appeared, 
who  was  not  without  value — Cardinal  Richelieu.  He  could 
do  pretty  much  what  he  pleased  in  France,  and  was  in  a 
position  to  entertain  the  idea  of  renewing  the  foreign  policy 
of  Henry  IV.,  Henry  II.,  and  Francis  I.  France  had 
neither  finances  nor  army  for  independent  intervention.  If 
she  desired,  therefore,  to  take  a  part  in  European  affairs, 

H  H 


466   SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

she  must  ally  herself  with  some  foreign  military  ruler,  and 
Gustavus  Adolphus  appeared  to  be  the  man. 

He  was  in  want  of  money,  for  his  resources  were  still 
very  limited,  and  as  a  foreigner  he  seemed  adapted  to  sup- 
port the  acquisitive  schemes  in  which  France  indulged  in 
the  name  of  "  German  liberty."  He  might  perhaps  be 
employed  as  a  battering  ram  for  the  French  policy.  Riche- 
lieu gave  Gustavus  credit  for  being  what  Bernhard  of 
Weimar  was  afterwards  to  be,  and  what  the  Swedes  at  last 
actually  became ;  and  there  did  not  now  seem  to  be  much 
cause  to  anticipate  failure  on  his  part. 

But  Richelieu  found  his  master  in  Gustavus  Adolphus. 
France  had  hitherto  known  nothing  of  a  "  King  "  of  Sweden, 
for  the  rulers  of  that  country  did  not  wear  their  crowns  by 
the  grace  of  God,  only  by  the  election  of  the  States  and 
people.  Gustavus  declared  at  once  that  only  as  King  would 
he  negotiate,  and  Richelieu  was  obliged  to  yield. 

And,  what  was  of  more  importance,  he  was  also  obliged 
to  make  important  concessions.  His  endeavour  to  obtain 
an  influence  over  the  conduct  of  affairs  was  futile.  All  that 
he  could  obtain  was  a  promise  from  Gustavus  that  he 
would  nowhere  attack  the  Catholic  Church  as  such,  and 
would  otherwise  restore  everything  to  its  previous  con- 
dition of  peace.  Even  the  cession  of  a  slice  of  Germany  on 
the  French  frontier,  which  Richelieu  desired  to  have  for  the 
protection  of  German  liberty,  was  refused.  "  Not  a  village 
shall  the  French  have,"  said  Gustavus  Adolphus. 

Thus  he  had  fully  accomplished  his  object.  France 
granted  him  subsidies  in  the  name  of  their  common  inte- 
rests ;  but  the  political  and  military  leadership  belonged 
solely  to  Sweden.  The  Treaty  of  Barwalde  (January,  1631 ) 
was  therefore  a  great  diplomatic  victory  for  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  It  provided  him  with  the  means  of  carrying  on 
the  war,  while  he  fully  maintained  his  independence. 

Meanwhile  the  contest  about  the  fortresses  continued. 
By  the  spring  the  King  had  made  two  important  conquests 
— that  of  Colberg  in  March,  and  of  Frankfort-on-the-Oder 
in  April. 

Consciousness  began  to  dawn  upon  the  Protestant  States 
which  had  not  yet  joined  either  side,  that  the  time  was 
come  for  them  to  take  an  independent  course.  The 
Electors  of  Saxony  and  Brandenburg,  as  the  chief  repre- 
sentatives of  German  Protestantism,  and  yet  not  favourable 


THE   CONVENTION  AT  LEIPZIG.  467 

to  Sweden,  both  severely  menaced  by  the  Edict  of  Restitu- 
tion, were  now  compelled  to  adopt  a  decisive  policy.  The 
Protestant  States  of  South  Germany  were  in  the  same  posi- 
tion ;  they  had  everything  to  fear  from  Catholic  restoration, 
and  little  to  hope  for  from  Sweden.  For  both  these  groups 
there  was  a  common  programme  prescribed  by  the  nature 
of  the  case — armed  neutrality,  for  the  protection  of  Pro- 
testantism against  the  Emperor,  of  the  German  nation 
against  the  foreigner.  Since  the  dismissal  of  Wallenstein 
the  imperial  arms  had  been  everywhere  at  a  disadvantage. 
The  League,  or  rather  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  maintained  a 
policy  of  delay  which  displayed  little  zeal  for  the  Emperor. 
If  the  King  of  Sweden  had  to  halt  before  Saxony  and 
Brandenburg,  he  would  be  left  in  the  lurch.  If  these 
adversaries  united  to  form  a  compact  mass,  and  said  to  the 
Emperor,  "  We  will  keep  to  the  religious  peace,  and  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  foreigner,"  there  would  be  a  pro- 
spect of  a  peace  which  would  satisfy  both  the  religious  and 
national  demands  of  Germany.  Armed  mediation  is  cer- 
tainly often  the  most  thankless  policy ;  but  under  some  cir- 
cumstances it  alone  can  turn  the  scale.  The  means  of 
those  upon  whom  it  depended  were  quite  sufficient ;  but  then 
there  must  be  no  delay  in  collecting  and  using  them  ;  and, 
above  all  things,  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  end 
would  be  attained  by  boastful  speeches  and  endless  scrib- 
bling. This  simple  and  obvious  policy  was  pursued  with 
great  firmness  by  a  man  who  has  been  much  censured  and 
misunderstood,  Count  Arnim  von  Boytzenburg.:;: 

In  February  a  convention  took  place  at  Leipzig,  at  which 
there  was  a  brilliant  assemblage  of  Protestant  States,  and 
they  discussed  the  subject  of  a  common  programme  till  May. 

Neither  of  the  military  parties  took  part  in  it — neither 
the  League  nor  Gustavus  Adolphus.  The  Jesuits  jeered, 
and  published  mocking  fugitive  pieces,t  because  they  per- 

*  Until  1629  he  was  in  Wallenstein's  army,  after  1631  an  Electoral 
Field-Marshal.  Upon  his  continued  relations  with  Wallenstein,  see 
Gnorer,  who  seems  to  overlook  the  lact  that  in  die  existing  position 
of  affairs,  it  was  quite  a  different  thing  to  be  in  connection  with  Wal- 
lenstein and  with  the  Court  of  Vienna. 

f  For  instance : — 

"  The  poor  little  Lutheran  princes 
Are  holding  a  little  convention  at  Leipzig. 
Who  is  there  ?     A  princeling  and  a  half. 
What  are  they  going  to  do  ?    Make  a  little  war.          [Who's 


468   SECOND  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

ceived  the  danger  of  success,  and  Gustavus  Adolphus  set 
his  Chemnitz  to  negotiate,  because  he  foresaw  that  if  their 
end  were  obtained,  all  that  he  had  attained  would  be  lost. 

But  the  helpless  indecision  of  the  princes  and  their 
ministers  took  good  care  that  the  one  thing  should  not 
happen  which  could  have  given  Germany  peace  by  German 
means.  After  discussions  which  lasted  for  months,  great 
festivities  and  carousals,  the  assembly  broke  up  without  the 
smallest  result.  The  decision  with  which  they  finally  con- 
soled themselves  was  simply  ridiculous.  They  had  intended 
to  form  a  league,  but  instead  of  that  they  reckoned  up  what 
number  of  troops  each  party  could  bring  in  case  they 
should  form  a  league  some  other  time. 

A  religious  discussion  also  took  place.  Of  course  no 
agreement  was  come  to ;  but  a  praiseworthy  promise  was 
given  to  treat  each  other  better  in  future  than  they  had 
hitherto  done.  The  Convention  of  Leipzig  is  best  described 
by  one  who  took  part  in  it :  "  For  four  weeks  we  feasted 
and  caroused  like  excellent  Christians,  and  can  say,  like 
the  bishop  who  cut  his  finger,  '  Quantum  patimur  pro  Jesu 
Christo.'  " 

Meanwhile  the  League  had  roused  itself  up.  Tilly  had 
joined  Pappenheim,  who  was  besieging  Magdeburg,  and 
before  Gustavus  Adolphus  arrived  the  city  was  taken, 
devastated,  burnt,  and  the  inhabitants  butchered  with 
unparalleled  barbarity.* 

This   stirred   up   the  hatred   of  the   Protestants   afresh 

Who's  going  to  lead  it  ?    The  little  King  of  Sweden. 
Who'll  find  the  money  ?    Tipsy  George  of  Saxony. 
Whom  will  it  please  ?     Little  Palatine  Fritz. 
What's  it  all  about  ?     His  little  nest  at  Heidelberg." 

— RAUMER,  Vol.  III. 
"  Die  armen  lutherischen  Furstelein 
Halten  zu  Leipzig  ein  Conventelein. 
Wer  ist  dabei  ?     Anderthalb  Furstelein. 
Was  sollen  sie  anfahen  ?    Ein  klein  Kriegelein. 
Wer  soil's  fiihren  ?     Das  schwedisch  Koniglein. 
Wer  wird's  geld  geben  ?    Das  sachsisch  Biergorglein. 
Wer  wird  sich  dessen  freuen  ?     Das  pfalzisch  Fritzlein. 
Warum  ist's  zu  thun  ?    Um  sein  heidelbergisch  Nestelein." 

*  Droysen  considers  it  probable,  though  not  certain,  that  the  storm- 
ing from  May  io-2Oth  was  begun  on  receiving  a  treacherous  sign  from 
the  city  itself.  By  whom  given  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  The 
city  was  set  fire  to  by  Pappenheim's  orders,  tut  whether  he  intended 
its  entire  destruction  it  is  impossible  to  say. 


FALL   OF  MAGDEBURG.  469 

against  the  Emperor,  and  brought  the  behaviour  of  the 
Swedes  during  the  war  into  a  favourable  light.  They  were 
everywhere  in  an  enemy's  country,  yet  they  could  not  be 
reproached  with  anything  like  the  outrages  of  the  imperial 
troops  in  the  empire  itself.  In  March,  Gustavus  Adolphus 
had  issued  strict  regulations  to  protect  those  who  had  sol- 
diers quartered  upon  them  from  exorbitant  demands  from 
the  officers  and  troops  ;*  and  this  gave  him  more  adherents 
among  the  people  than  victorious  battles  would  have 
done. 

Meanwhile  the  intermediate  party  was  quite  broken  up. 
There  was  no  neutrality ;  on  one  side  was  Tilly,  on  the 
other  Gustavus.  Both  coveted  accessions,  and  sought 
to  gain  them,  now  by  persuasions,  now  by  threats.  The 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  had  only  consented  with  great 
reluctance,  and  under  all  sorts  of  conditions,  to  surrender 
Spandau  and  Kustrin  to  the  Swedes.  After  the  fall  of 
Magdeburg  he  demanded  Spandau  back  again,  and  as  he 
would  not  listen  to  the  King's  friendly  remonstrances,  the 
latter  advanced  with  his  artillery  to  Berlin,  and  while  it 
was  directed  against  the  castle,  he  compelled  the  Elector 
to  sign  the  treaty  with  Sweden.  The  neutrality  of  electoral 
Saxony  was  soon  also  at  an  end. 

The  indecision  of  this  court  was  so  great,  that  until  both 
parties  were  in  the  country  and  demanded  its  adherence, 
nobody  knew  who  was  its  friend  or  foe.  The  country  was 
purely  Protestant ;  the  imperial  troops  behaved  as  they  did 
everywhere,  while  the  Protestant  Swedes  spared  both 
people  and  country.  This  decided  the  question. 

At  the  end  of  August,  Saxony  went  over  to  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  and  this  gave  an  impetus  to  other  accessions  in 
central  and  southern  Germany.  In  the  beginning  of 
September,  the  Saxon  and  Swedish  armies  met  at  Duben, 
and  advanced  into  the  plains  of  Leipzig,  to  give  the  Im- 
perialists battle.  Tilly  had  united  all  the  imperial  forces 
that  were  at  hand,  but  did  not  intend  '  to  give  battle. 
Pappenheim,  on  the  contrary,  and  the  officers,  who  were 
weary  of  perpetually  moving  hither  and  thither,  were  eager 
for  it,  and  when  the  Swedes  came  in  sight  rushed  away 
with  their  cavalry  from  the  main  army  to  begin  the  contest. 
The  attack  was  a  failure,  and  now  Tilly  himself  was  obliged 
to  give  battle. 

*  Gfrorer. 


470   SECOND  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

They  fought  from  the  yth  to  the  lyth  of  September,  on 
the  Breitenfeld.  The  Swedes  fought  mainly  by  themselves, 
for  the  Saxons  only  kept  their  posts  for  a  short  time,  and 
the  Elector,  who  a  few  days  before  had  declared,  that  if 
Gustavus  Adolphus  did  not  at  once  advance  to  battle  he 
would  attack  Tilly  alone,  fled  miles  away  from  the  battle- 
field. The  Swedes  fought  against  34,000  imperial  troops, 
with  13,000  infantry  and  8,000  cavalry.  The  material  of 
the  former  was  not  bad,  and  their  leader  was  a  hitherto 
unvanquished  general. 

Tilly's  plan  was  to  outflank  the  enemy's  line  of  battle  by 
means  of  his  superior  number  of  cavalry,  and  then  to  sur- 
round them.  But  the  plan  was  frustrated  by  the  skilful 
tactics  of  the  Swedish  infantry  and  cavalry  together. 
After  the  conflict  had  begun  by  a  fierce  cannonade,  the 
masses  of  cavalry  rushed  at  each  other,  and  after  each 
attack,  the  Swedish  cavalry  parted  to  the  right  and  left, 
thus  leaving  space  for  the  fearful  firing  of  the  musketeers, 
and  the  light  cannons  behind  them.  Thus  the  divisions 
of  infantry  and  cavalry  continually  relieved  each  other  ; 
the  excellent  discipline  of  the  Swedes,  the  regular  inter- 
change of  weapons,  the  skill  of  their  leaders,  and  the 
unusual  agility  of  the  separate  divisions,  finally  gained  the 
day.  The  valour  of  the  imperial  troops  was  worthy  of  their 
ancient  fame.  They  stood  the  enemy's  fire  like  walls,  but 
could  not  match  his  tactics.  The  approach  of  night  put  an 
end  to  the  contest,  which  had  lasted  for  five  hours.  Tilly's 
army  was  almost  annihilated,  and  he  narrowly  escaped 
death  himself. 

VICTORIOUS  MARCH  OF  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS  TOWARDS 
SOUTH  GERMANY,  OCTOBER,  1611. — His  PLANS  or 
RESTORATION. 

Immense  results  followed  this  victory.  All  that  had  been 
accomplished  by  the  imperial  arms  since  1620,  in  North 
Germany,  was  undone.  The  fruits  of  the  victories  of 
Wallenstein  and  Tilly,  by  which  North  German  Pro- 
testantism was  lamed,  were  destroyed,  and  from  the  manner 
of  the  retreat  of  Tilly's  army,  it  was  doubtful  whether  it 
would  confront  the  enemy  again.  The  greater  part  of 
Germany  would  probably  now  be  open  to  the  Swede  ; 
perhaps  he  would  head  a  triumphal  march  to  the  Rhine 


VICTORIOUS   MARCH  TO   SOUTH   GERMANY.      471 

and  the  Maine.  The  King  at  first  advanced  cautiously 
towards  the  south,  as  yet  unconscious  of  the  great  results  of 
his  victory ;  he  reached  the  Maine  and  Wiirzburg  without 
striking  a  blow,  and  when  Tilly  opposed  him,  he  was 
victorious  over  him  again. 

It  has  often  been  asked,  why,  after  the  victory  of  Breiten- 
feld,  Gustavus  Adolphus  did  not  at  once  advance  to 
Bohemia,  march  to  Vienna,  and  before  the  Emperor  could 
assemble  an  army,  decide  the  contest  before  the  walls  of 
the  capital.  Why,  instead  of  doing  this,  he  left  the  attack 
on  the  Austrian  hereditary  dominions,  to  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  and  himself  advanced  to  the  Rhine  and  the  Maine, 
where  there  was  no  hostile  army  of  any  importance. 
Eminent  men  about  the  King  regretted  afterwards  that  he 
took  this  course,  and  eighteen  years  after  his  death,  Oxen- 
stierna  was  of  opinion  that  the  King  made  a  great  blunder, 
contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  best  friends. 

Many  reasons  may  be  imagined  which  determined  the 
King  not  to  take  the  former  otherwise  obvious  course. 

In  the  first  place,  he  had  not  then  that  idea  of  the  import- 
ance of  his  victory,  in  the  plains  of  Leipzig,  which  he  after- 
wards derived  from  its  actual  results,  and  it  was  on  these 
results  that  the  opinions  of  the  generals  were  mainly  based. 
It  could  not  then  be  precisely  known  how  completely  the 
power  of  the  League  was  destroyed. 

Then  the  very  loose  alliance  with  the  Elector  required 
peculiar  caution.  The  Elector  maintained  that  he  was  still 
the  independent  leader  of  his  troops.  If  this  were  con- 
ceded to  him,  his  command  must  be  of  a  kind  that,  how- 
ever exercised,  could  hurt  no  one  but  himself.  Gustavus 
Adolphus  sent  him  to  Bohemia,  because  he  thought  it  more 
prudent  to  set  his  doubtful  ally  to  harry  the  Austrian 
territory  than  to  send  him  to  the  Maine  and  the  Rhine, 
where,  as  the  succourer  of  the  Protestants,  he  would  have 
appropriated  to  himself  all  the  results  of  the  Swedish 
victories ;  would  have  taken  up  his  old  alliances  more 
injuriously  than  ever,  and  have  been  changed  from  a  luke- 
warm ally  into  an  open  enemy. 

By  going  himself  to  the  south,  he  made  the  Elector 
innocuous,  and  created  a  permanent  power  for  himself  by 
the  adherence  of  the  Protestant  princes  and  imperial  cities 
of  the  west  and  south.  He  was  not  mistaken  in  the  value 
of  these  allies.  The  South  Germans  remained  the  longest 


472    SECOND   PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

faithful  to  the  Swedes,  and  allied  themselves  so  closely  with 
them  that  there  was  no  fear  of  their  defection. 

It  was  here  that  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  his  most  gracious 
task  to  perform,  and  he  really  seemed  like  a  saviour  to 
the  oppressed  Protestant  States.  In  Bohemia  and  Upper 
Austria,  Protestantism  had  been  completely  crushed,  and 
could  not  be  revived  simply  by  the  entrance  of  Protestant 
troops ;  but  in  the  favoured  provinces  of  the  Maine  and  the 
Rhine  there  were  millions  of  Protestants  who,  since  1622, 
had  been  groaning  under  the  oppression  of  their  fanatical 
"  converters,"  and  were  anxiously  awaiting  their  liberation. 
This  was  expressed  in  the  invitation  to  Gustavus  Adolphus 
to  lend  them  a  hand  against  Hapsburg,  which  was  addressed 
to  him  by  a  number  of  states  assembled  at  Frankfort.  He 
came  to  assert  the  rights  of  Protestantism ;  if  he  did  not 
redeem  his  word,  he  would  lose  not  only  his  prestige,  but 
the  substantial  support  of  his  whole  policy. 

Hesse  Cassel,  Darmstadt,  the  Palatinate,  and  its  col- 
lateral lines,  Wiirtemberg,  and  all  the  imperial  cities  from 
Frankfort  to  Ulm  and  Augsburg,  formed  together  a  great 
power  in  Germany.  The  time  was  come  for  wresting  them 
from  the  Hapsburg  power,  and  restoring  the  ascendancy  of 
the  Protestants. 

After  taking  Erfurt  with  one  blow,  in  the  beginning  of 
October,  he  passed  through  Thuringia  to  Franconia  without 
meeting  with  any  resistance ;  and  now  began  the  period  of 
his  triumphs,  and  a  time  of  prosperity  for  his  troops  such 
as  they  had  never  known.  Konigshofen,  Wurzburg,  Hanau, 
Frankfort,  and  Hochst  fell  quickly  one  after  another  into 
his  hands.  The  States  of  the  Franconian  district  did 
homage  to  him  as  the  Duke  of  Franconia,  and  his  famished 
troops  revelled  in  the  luxuriance  of  the  great  "  priests'  row  " 
(pfarlengasse),  as  the  line  of  ecclesiastical  states  from  the 
Maine  to  the  Rhine  was  then  called. 

At  Wurzburg  there  was  again  a  sanguinary  passage  of 
arms  with  Tilly,  which  ended  in  his  retreat.  Alter  this, 
Gustavus  could  peacefully  take  possession  of  the  country 
from  Franconia  to  the  Rhine.  His  position  was  as  brilliant 
as  that  of  any  one  who  had  taken  part  in  this  war.  From 
the  coast  of  Pomerama  he  had  advanced  to  the  line  of  the 
Maine ;  there  he  appeared  only  as  an  adventurous  general. 
Here,  in  the  heart  ot  the  empire,  he  received  the  Protestant 
States  like  a  German  Emperor  of  the  olden  time. 


PROBABLE  PROJECTS  OF  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.  473 

Still,  his  position  was  not  without  difficulties.  His 
alliance  with  the  German  princes  was  always  insecure ;  the 
faithfulness  of  the  imperial  cities  was  no  secuiity  against 
their  defection  ;  a  single  failure  would  drive  Saxony  and 
Brandenburg  into  the  enemy's  camp.  Those  only  were 
true  to  him  who  had  much  to  receive  and  little  to  give. 
The  exiled  princes  who  expected  him  to  re-instate  them — 
those  who  were  landless,  who  looked  for  a  rich  booty,  the 
distressed  South  German  princes — such  as  the  Prince  of 
Hesse  Cassel — who  hoped  for  protection  against  the  foreign 
rule  of  the  Spaniards  and  Jesuits.  But  none  of  these  con- 
ferred any  power;  they  were  only  proteges  whom  it  was  often 
hard  to  please.  That  Saxony  and  Brandenburg  regarded 
the  King  with  distrust  and  aversion,  was  not  merely  a 
suspicion ;  it  was  a  fact.  Both  had  only  been  frightened 
into  alliance  with  him  by  threats.  If  now  or  later,  they 
found  any  loophole  which  would  enable  them  to  come  to 
terms  with  the  Emperor,  they  would  avail  themselves  of  it. 
Gustavus  was  not  in  the  least  deceived  by  them. 

Among  the  princes  of  Central  Germany  there  was  a  fear 
lest  all  this  should  end  in  merely  exchanging  a  Hapsburg 
master  for  a  Swedish  one,  and  this  could  but  be  strength- 
ened as  the  King's  plans  were  developed  by  the  growing 
success  of  his  arms. 

At  any  rate,  the  victorious  march  towards  the  south  and 
west  had  essentially  changed  his  plans. 

The  Swedes  had  hitherto  found  a  scanty  subsistence  in 
the  most  sterile  and  exhausted  parts  of  Germany ;  but  now 
they  were  in  countries  which  rejoiced  their  hearts.  They 
have  themselves  given  us  naive  descriptions  of  their  sur- 
prise. They  seem  to  say,  It  is  good  to  be  here ;  let  us 
make  tabernacles  —  whereas  this  had  never  entered  their 
heads  in  the  camp  at  Werben  or  on  the  sandy  plains  of 
Brandenburg.  That  Gustavus  Adolphus  also  may  have 
now  entertained  ideas  of  permanent  conquest  and  settle- 
ment, which  did  not  occur  to  him  on  the  Pomeranian  coast 
and  in  the  Mark,  is  quite  intelligible.  Was  he  not  revered 
as  if  he  had  been  Emperor?  Were  not  his  meetings  of 
princes  held  with  all  the  old  imperial  pomp?  Was  he  not 
regarded  with  enthusiastic  affection  by  the  people  ? 

Nuremberg,  the  most  German  of  the  imperial  cities,  and 
the  proudest  of  the  republics,  told  him  expressly  that  if  there 
were  an  election  of  a  new  head  of  the  empire,  "  they  knew 


474   SECOND   PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS*   WAR. 

of  no  one  whose  choice  would  be  more  suitable  and  happy 
than  that  of  his  Majesty  himself." 

When  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  advancing  from  Pome- 
rania  to  Brandenburg,  the  Elector  sent  an  embassy  to  him, 
to  ask  what  recompense  he  should  demand  as  a  material 
indemnity  in  Germany.  The  King  replied  that  if  the 
exiles  were  restored,  religious  liberty  granted  to  the  States, 
and  he  were  assured  tha.t  he  need  not  fear  any  attack  from 
the  Hapsburgs  in  his  own  country,  he  should  be  satisfied. 
But  by  this  assurance  he  meant  a  pledge  which  should  at 
once  indemnify  him,  and  protect  him  against  attack.  He 
intended  probably  some  slip  of  the  Baltic  coast,  like  that 
which  afterwards  fell  to  Sweden  on  the  mouth  of  the  Oder 
in  Pomerania. 

But  now  that  he  was  at  Mayence  the  case  was  different. 
He  was  now  justified  in  demanding  what  would  then  have 
been  premature.  When  the  Catholic  party  made  overtures 
of  peace,  he  made  the  following  stipulations  : — 

1.  The  Edict  of  Restitution  shall  be  null  and  void. 

2.  Both  the   Catholic  and   Protestant  religion  shall  be 
tolerated  in  town  and  country. 

3.  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and   Silesia  shall   be  restored   to 
their  previous  condition  ;  all  the  exiles  shall  return  to  their 
estates. 

4.  The  Elector  Palatine  Frederic  V.  shall  be  restored  to 
his  country. 

5.  The  Bavarian  Electorate  shall   cease  ;   the  electoral 
vote  shall  be  restored  to  the  Palatinate. 

6.  The  practice  of  the  evangelical  religion  and  all  civic 
privileges  shall  be  restored  to  Augsburg. 

7.  All  Jesuits,  as  disturbers  of  the  public  peace  and  authors 
of  the  present  difficulties,  shall  be  banished  from  the  empire. 

8.  Protestants,  as  well  as  Catholics,  shall  be  admitted 
into  every  institution. 

9.  The  monasteries  in  the  Duchy  of  Wurtemberg  which 
have  been  illegally  taken  possession  of  by  the  Catholics 
shall  be  restored. 

10.  Out  of  gratitude  for  the  salvation  of  the  German 
empire,  your  M.ajesty  the  King  of  Sweden  shall  be  elected 
King  of  Rome. 

11.  All  expenses  incurred  in  the  imperial  cities  and  in 
the  Duchy  of  Wurtemberg  by  the  Edict  of  Restitution  shall 
be  repaid. 


CONDITIONS   OF  PEACE.  475 

12.  There  shall  be  as  many  Lutheran  as  Catholic  canons 
appointed  to  the  cathedrals. 

We  have  two  accounts  of  these  conditions,  one  by  Khe- 
venhiller  (vol.  xii.),  the  other  in  Richelieu's  memoirs 
(vol.  vii.).  They  agree,  except  on  one  point ;  the  clause 
about  the  election  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  as  King  of  Rome 
is  wanting  in  Richelieu.  This  important  point  is  not  well 
authenticated.  There  is  very  important  testimony  of 
another  kind  against  that  of  Khevenhiller.* 

About  the  same  time  Gustavus  Adolphus  told  the  people 
of  Nurembergf  that  "from  his  friends  he  required  nothing 
but  gratitude.  What  he  had  taken  from  his  foes  he  intended 
to  keep.  The  Protestant  League  must  separate  itself  from 
the  Catholics,  and  provide  itself  with  a  suitable  leader, 
especially  for  the  war.  He  could  not  be  satisfied  with  pay 
for  a  few  months,  like  a  military  adventurer.  He  might 
demand  territory  '  ex  hire  gcnlium]  according  to  Grotius, 
although  he  had  enough  of  his  own.  He  could  not  give  up 
Pomerania,  on  account  of  the  sea  ;  and  if  he  gave  anything 
back,  he  might  at  the  same  time  demand  the  rights  of 
supremacy  which  the  Emperor  had  hitherto  enjoyed.  The 
old  imperial  constitution  was  good  for  nothing ;  it  was  like 
an  ancient  ruin,  good  enough  for  rats  and  mice,  but  not 
habitable  for  men." 

A  resolution  of  the  Swedish  Parliament  now  proposed 
religious  liberty,  abolition  of  the  Inquisition  for  ever,  and 
restitution  to  the  Protestants ;  compensation  for  Sweden's 
war  expenses,  and  security  for  the  payment  of  them  ;  a 
league  between  the  Protestants  and  the  King  of  Sweden, 
with  the  directorium  belli,  which  was  his  due,  in  all  the  wars 
with  the  Emperor  and  other  potentates ;  the  cession  of 
Pomerania  and  Wismar  to  Sweden,  in  compensation  for 
which  Brandenburg  was  to  have  Silesia ;  Saxony,  Lusatia, 
and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  the  Dukes  of  Weimar,  and 
others,  were  to  be  endowed  at  the  expense  of  Austria. 

This  programme  was  quite  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  the  Protestant  imperial  cities  ;  but  the  rulers  did  not 
approve  of  it,  and  were  all  the  more  suspicious  of  it 
because  the  details  of  it  were  unknown,  and  because  it  was 
clear  that  its  ultimate  objects  were  purposely  left  obscure. 

*  Would  the  difference  between  being  acknowledged  Protector  of  a 
Protestant  league  and  king  of  Rome  be  really  so  great  ? — ED. 
f  Geijer. 


476   SECOND   PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY   YEARS'  WAR. 

In  the  circles  where  politics  were  enshrouded  in  the  mists 
of  petty  sovereignty,  they  foreboded  the  worst.  They 
already  beheld  the  Swede  as  Emperor,  and  German  liberty 
destroyed  by  Sweden  instead  of  by  Spain.  Saxony  espe- 
cially was  filled  with  alarm,  and  even  among  those  who 
were  dependent  on  the  King's  favour  great  discontent  was 
spreading,  since  it  had  appeared  that  he  would  not  hear  of 
the  reinstatement  of  the  exiled  princes  in  the  now  partly 
vanquished  countries  before  the  end  of  the  war. 

In  short  his  relations  with  the  princes,  with  lands  and 
without,  became  less  friendly  week  by  week,  while  with  the 
people  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  imperial  cities  they 
became  closer  and  closer.  He  reproached  the  princes  with 
the  un-German  attitude  of  their  armies  and  policy,  while  he 
gained  the  hearts  of  the  people  by  amiable  words.  Like 
his  grandfather,  he  was  a  great  orator,  and  was  wonderfully 
skilful  in  adopting  the  popular  confidential  tone  which  works 
upon  the  masses,  and  every  speech  of  his  to  such  audiences 
was  a  triumph. 

OVERTHROW  OF  THE  POWER  OF  THE  LEAGUE. — RETURN 
OF  WALLENSTEIN.* — BATTLE  OF  LUTZEN,  NOVEMBER 
16™,  1632. 

Thus  passed  the  winter  of  1631-2.  In  the  middle  of  Fe- 
bruary the  King  advanced  into  the  parts  of  South  Germany 
which  he  had  not  before  entered,  in  order  to  attack  the 
League  in  Bavaria,  the  chief  seat  of  its  power.  On  the 
Lech,  Tilly  encountered  him  once  more ;  and  in  a  hot  and 
final  conflict,  thanks  to  the  execution  done  by  the  Swedish 
artillery,  the  remains  of  the  forces  of  the  League  were 
defeated,  and  the  Lech  was  crossed  in  April.  Tilly  died  of 
his  wounds  a  few  days  afterwards,  and  Gustavus  Adolphus 
made  his  entry  into  Munich,  which  was  quite  unprotected. 
The  whole  of  Bavaria  up  to  the  last  fortress  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Swedes.  The  conquest  of  Germany  up  to  the 
Austrian  hereditary  dominions  was  accomplished. 

This  had  been  foreseen  at  Vienna,  and  since  the  winter  of 
1631,  vast  efforts  had  been  made  to  insure  the  defence  of 
the  country  against  the  Swedes,  in  case  the  power  of  the 
League  should  be  shattered.  But  the  coifers  were  empty, 

*  Hurter,  Wallenstein's  vier  letzte  LebensjrJire.     Vienna,  1862. 


OVERTHROW  OF  THE  LEAGUE.       477 

and  men  were  wanting  for  the  re-organization  of  the  degene- 
rate army. 

The  extremity  to  which  they  were  reduced  at  Vienna  is 
proved  by  the  assiduity  with  which  Wallenstein  was  again 
approached.  He  had  been  living  meanwhile  like  a  prince 
on  his  estates  in  Bohemia,  and  endeavouring  to  throw  even 
the  Emperor  into  the  shade  by  his  unparalleled  magnifi- 
cence. No  monarch  of  those  days  kept  such  a  court  as  he 
did.  He  had  taken  his  dismissal  with  afrected  coolness,  yet 
those  who  knew  him  were  convinced  that  no  mortal  could 
feel  being  degraded  from  the  highest  position  more  keenly. 

His  whole  life  had  been  passed  in  war  and  military 
command,  and  his  mind  had  been  engrossed  by  passionate 
and  boundless  ambition.  It  was  a  great  mistake  to  sup- 
pose that  he  had  forgotten  his  disgrace,  and  was  medi- 
tating upon  anything  but  revenge.  There  was  not  a  single 
trait  of  magnanimity  or  of  self-forgetfulness  in  his  coarse 
nature.  All  his  plans,  even  when  he  was  acting  in  concert 
with  the  Emperor,  revolved  round  self.  He  had  sprung  up, 
as  the  favoured  child  of  fortune,  out  of  the  revolution ;  he 
had  seen  too  much  greatness  laid  low  to  regard  loyalty  or 
devotion  to  any  party  or  person  as  anything  more  than  a 
prejudice.  He  never  forgot  that  the  Emperor  had  once 
betrayed  weakness  towards  his  foes. 

After  the  battle  of  Breitenfeld  the  Emperor  had  no  peace ; 
those  about  him  became  louder  and  louder  in  demanding 
the  recall  of  Wallenstein,  for  he  alone  could  help  them  in 
their  distress.  The  Emperor  had  only  dismissed  him  with 
reluctance,  as  the  least  of  two  evils  ;  he  now  sought  to  enter 
into  negotiations  with  him  in  the  tone  of  a  repentant  peti- 
tioner, but  Wallenstein  took  no  notice  of  any  overtures  for 
months.  He  persistently  behaved  as  if  the  idea  of  under- 
taking the  command  of  the  army  again  had  never  crossed 
his  mind,  and  played  out  the  comedy  of  obstinately  refusing 
what  he  most  anxiously  desired.  At  length,  after  many 
fruitless  entreaties,  he  was  persuaded  to  equip  an  army 
within  three  months,  on  the  express  condition  that  as  soon 
as  it  was  under  arms  he  should  give  up  the  command  to 
another  ;  the  State  should  not  be  without  an  army  in  its 
great  distress,  so  tar  as  it  was  in  his  power  to  help  it,  but 
he  would  not  lead  it  at  any  price.  January,  1632. 

The  name  of  Wallenstein  worked,  as  of  old,  like  a  charm. 
With  his  accustomed  skill,  and  with  all  the  pecuniary  aid 


478    SECOND  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

the  imperial  government  could  afford,  within  three  months  he 
collected  an  army  of  50,000  men.  All  the  colonels  had 
received  their  brevets  from  him,  and  the  troops  would  doubt- 
less soon  be  dispersed,  if  he  was  not  at  their  head  to  take 
all  those  means  to  keep  them  together,  which  no  one  else 
understood, 

At  the  end  of  March  he  declared  that  his  task  was  done. 
The  army  was  on  its  legs  ;  it  was  for  the  Emperor  to  name 
the  man  to  whom  he  had  promised  the  command,  and  then 
he  should  withdraw. 

The  Emperor  sent  a  first,  and  then  a  second  messenger 
to  implore  him,  but  the  Duke  was  inexorable ;  the  third 
succeeded  in  inducing  him  to  take  the  command,  but  on  the 
most  extraordinary  conditions.  The  articles  of  Znaym,  of 
April,  1632,  established  between  the  Emperor  and  his 
general  a  relation  elsewhere  unknown  in  history. 

It  provided  that  the  Duke  of  Friedland  is,  and  shall  remain, 
the  commander-in-chief  not  only  of  the  Emperor  and  all 
the  archdukes,  but  also  of  the  Spanish  crown.  Wallenstein 
wished  to  secure  himself  against  a  second  dismissal. 

Further  :  this  office  confers  unlimited  supremacy  on  him. 
Neither  the  Emperor  nor  the  King  of  Hungary  shall  ever  be 
with  the  army,  still  less  take  the  command.  The  sole  dis- 
position of  the  army  in  the  field  shall  be  entrusted  to  him  ; 
neither  advice,  nor  any  personal  influence  from  Vienna 
shall  interfere  with  him.  Still  more  incredible  were  the 
stipulations  made  by  the  Duke  as  to  the  results  and  rewards 
of  his  victories. 

As  ordinary  reward,  an  Austrian  hereditary  territory  was 
to  be  made  over  to  him  ;  as  extraordinary  reward  he  was 
to  have  sovereign  jurisdiction  over  all  the  conquered  coun- 
tries. It  must  be  remembered  that  nearly  all  Germany  was 
to  be  conquered. 

He  was  to  have  the  sole  right  of  confiscating  estates  in 
the  Empire ;  neither  the  Aulic  Council,  nor  the  Imperial 
Chamber  at  Spires,  were  to  interfere  in  it. 

Pardons  also  were  to  be  granted  only  in  accordance  with 
his  will.  If  the  Emperor  granted  safe  conduct  to  any  one, 
or  any  other  favour,  it  was  only  to  affect  his  person  and 
honour,  not  his  property.  Unconditional  pardon  or  repeal 
of  confiscation  could  be  granted  only  by  the  Duke  of  Fried- 
land,  "  For/'  he  added  to  this  extraordinary  condition, 
"  the  Emperor  is  far  too  lenient,  and  grants  pardons  to 


RECALL   OF  WALLENSTEIN.  479 

every  one  at  Court.  This  diminishes  the  necessary  means 
for  rewarding  the  superior  and  inferior  officers,  and  for 
keeping  the  soldiers  in  good  humour." 

This  treaty  was  Wallenstein's  first  sin  against  the  Emperor, 
and  it  was  an  immense  mistake  ;  it  was  impracticable  and 
contradictory.  Either  Wallenstein  must  be  practically 
Emperor,  and  Ferdinand  must  abdicate,  or  the  house  of 
Hapsburg  must  keep  its  power  and  Wallenstein  must  perish; 
in  either  case  a  catastrophe  must  ensue.  As  he  could  not 
be  deposed,  the  only  probable  course  would  be  to  murder 
him.  All  that  followed  therefore,  first  dalliance  with  treason, 
then  actual  treason,  and  Wallenstein's  murder  lay  hidden  in 
the  bud  in  this  treaty. 

But  he  had  preserved  the  skill  with  which  he  could  create 
an  army  out  of  homeless  soldiers  of  every  nation,  rabble, 
and  vagabonds  of  all  sorts,  and  handle  it  like  a  tool. 

He  had  quietly  looked  on  at  the  misfortunes  of  his  old 
friend  Max,  of  Bavaria,  and  had  withstood  all  his  entreaties 
for  help  with  revengeful  satisfaction.  His  plan  was  at  first  to 
carry  on  a  defensive  warfare,  which  he  could  sustain  better 
than  the  foreigner,  and  his  troops  had  to  be  accustomed  to 
war. 

Wallenstein's  first  operations  were  successful.  Early  in 
May  he  fell  upon  Prague  unawares,  and  compelled  the 
troops  of  Electoral  Saxony  to  make  a  hasty  retreat.  By 
the  end  of  June  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  joined  him  with  the 
remnant  of  his  troops,  and  their  united  forces  advanced  to 
Franconia.  Near  Nuremberg,  Gustavus  Adolphus  had 
erected  a  fortified  camp  ;  Wallenstein  established  himself 
in  like  manner  opposite  to  him.  He  did  not  obtain  a 
victory,  but  the  assaults  of  the  Swedes  on  his  redoubts  were 
fruitless. 

In  the  middle  of  September,  Gustavus  Adolphus  divided 
his  army,  and  returned  with  one  division  to  Bavaria,  when 
news  came  that  Wallenstein  had  invaded  Saxony.  He  had 
in  fact  just  begun  to  act  on  the  defensive,  and  had  attacked 
the  weakest  part  of  the  Swedish  line  of  communication. 
An  invasion  of  Saxony  was  doubtless  the  best  means  of 
compelling  Gustavus  Adolphus  to  return  northwards  ;  and, 
besides  this,  owing  to  the  untrustworthiness  of  the  Elector, 
the  greatest  political  consequence  might  ensue  from  it. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  advanced  by  forced  marches  to 
Saxony,  in  order  to  arrive  before  the  Elector  should  have 


480   SECOND   PHASE   OF  THE   THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

gone  over  to  Wallenstein.  When  he  appeared  in  Thuringia 
and  Saxony,  where  Wallenstein's  troops  had  behaved  atro- 
ciously, the  people  received  him  with  acclamations.  From 
November  6-16  he  encountered  Wallenstein  in  the  same 
plains  where  he  had  fought  his  first  battle,  near  Liitzen. 

The  battle  which  took  place  here  was  one  of  the  most 
severe  and  sanguinary  of  the  whole  war.  Command  was  at 
first  difficult,  for  a  thick  fog  lay  upon  the  plain,  which  did 
not  clear  off  till  ten  o'clock.  The  morning  passed  without 
a  decision.  The  Swedes  sprang  over  the  trenches  and  broke 
one  of  the  imperial  squares,  but  were  forced  to  retreat 
again.  Both  sides  fought  with  the  greatest  valour,  but  the 
combat  still  remained  undecided.  The  King  had  for  a  long 
time  disused  armour,  on  account  of  his  corpulence,  and  wore 
a  light  leather  jerkin.  His  idea  was,  God  is  with  us,  and 
if  it  is  His  will  to  protect  us  He  can  do  so  without 
armour.  He  was  near-sighted,  and,  as  ever  in  the  thickest 
of  the  fray,  he  rode  forward  with  but  few  companions,  and 
got  among  a  host  of  hostile  cuirassiers.  A  shot  struck  his 
horse  as  he  was  dismounting ;  a  second  shot  struck  his 
arm.  His  companions  were  quickly  dispersed ;  his  two 
pages  found  it  difficult  to  help  him  from  his  horse,  when 
a  third  shot  struck  him,  which  seems  to  have  been  fatal. 
The  page  who  was  last  at  his  side,  related  that  while  he 
was  helping  the  King  to  dismount,  hostile  cuirassiers  came 
up  and  asked  who  the  wounded  man  was  ;  that  he  would 
not  say ;  but  that  the  King  made  himself  known,  and  then 
some  one  shot  him  through  the  head.  The  page  himself 
was  fatally  wounded,  and  died  a  few  hours  afterwards. 

It  was  not  until  his  horse  sprang  riderless  over  the  plain 
that  the  news  spread  among  the  Swedes,  "The  King  is 
dead."  His  body  was  afterwards  found  stripped.  With 
fearful  rage  the  Swedes  now  threw  themselves  upon  the 
enemy,  and  during  the  evening  hours  the  imperial  army 
was  totally  defeated.  The  victory  was  won,  but  at  what  a 
price  ! 

But  the  cause  for  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  fought  did 
not  die  with  him.  The  course  of  events  preserved  the 
stamp  which  he  had  impressed  upon  them.  The  effects 
of  what  he  accomplished  in  two  years  were  felt  during 
the  whole  war;  and  when  peace  was  concluded,  sixteen 
years  afterwards,  the  essential  features  of  his  plan  were 
realised.  It  was  not  therefore  as  affecting  this  that  the  im- 


RESULTS  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  GUSTAVUS.   481 

portance  of  his  death  lay.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  too, 
he  had  attained  that  height  of  personal  dignity  which  could 
scarcely  have  been  surpassed,  but  from  which  he  might 
have  had  to  descend.  For  the  splendour  of  his  name  he 
died  at  the  right  time.  In  proportion  as  the  hitherto  ideal 
forms  of  his  political  plans  became  more  clearly  denned, 
his  relations  with  those  around  him  in  Germany  would 
have  been  clouded,  and  this  had  already  taken  place  to  an 
extent  which  foreboded  no  good.  Gustavus  Adolphus  died 
in  the  very  height  of  his  iame,  and  therefore  the  moral 
influence  of  his  character  was  undiminished. 

But  for  the  immediate  conduct  of  the  war,  and  for  his 
policy,  it  was  an  irreparable  loss. 

There  was  no  one  at  hand  so  competent  to  command  on 
the  field  of  battle  as  he  had  been.  Wrangel,  Baner, 
Torstenson,  Bernhard  von  Weimar,  were  the  most  distin- 
guished generals  of  the  age,  and  all  were  trained  solely  in 
his  school ;  but  in  the  main  points,  the  organization  and 
the  discipline  of  the  army,  none  of  them  were  equal  to 
him.  The  Swedish  army  was  broken  up  into  wild  bands, 
which  were  in  no  way  superior  to  those  of  the  enemy,  and 
Swedish  bestiality  was  soon  as  notorious  as  that  of  the 
imperial  Croats. 

Politically  also  it  made  a  vast  difference,  whether  a  king 
such  as  he  was,  was  at  the  head  of  affairs,  or  generals  and 
diplomatists.  He  alone  had  been  at  the  head  ot  everything ; 
neither  France  nor  the  German  princes  had  been  allowed 
to  interfere,  and  this  was  a  great  blessing  to  Germany  itself, 
for  their  only  idea  was  to  share  the  rags  and  tatters  of  the 
country  between  them.  It  was  his  mental  superiority,  the 
loftiness  of  his  aims,  his  whole  character  in  short,  which 
enabled  him  to  do  this.  Even  his  ambition  was  of  a  noble 
stamp. 

He  was  fighting  for  himself,  his  family,  his  monarchy,  and 
for  Protestantism,  and  this  was  something  totally  different 
from  the  struggles  of  his  successors  for  rich  booty  or  a 
German  principality.  The  objects  of  the  ambition  of  these 
men  were  narrower  and  therefore  coarser.  He  might  have 
entertained  the  idea  of  setting  up  a  Swedish  empire  in  Pro- 
testant Germany  ;  but  an  Oxenstierna  was  not  capable  of  it, 
nor  any  of  the  others.  They  behaved  in  Germany  like 
robbers  and  incendiaries  ;  and  the  trophies  from  our  churches 
and  castles,  which  are  preserved  to  this  day  by  their  pos- 

I  i 


482   SECOND   PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

terity  in  their  palaces,  are  but  the  memorials  of  a  lawless 
adventurous  war. 

The  death  of  Gustavus  therefore  was  a  great  misfortune 
for  Germany.  It  was  an  exchange  of  one  great  and  eminent 
man  for  a  number  of  military  generals,  who  tore  Germany 
to  pieces  and  drenched  her  with  tears  and  blood ;  it  was 
nothing  to  them  if  the  French  scuffled  with  them  on  this 
vast  theatre  of  war,  and  they  had  no  other  idea  than  to  drag 
on  the  war  for  ever  without  object  or  aim.  Gustavus 
Adolphus  had  a  distinct  and  definite  aim  in  view ;  not  so 
his  generals.  When  they  returned  to  Sweden,  they  would 
be  nothing  but  Swedish  subjects;  in  Germany  they  were 
playing  the  part  of  generals ;  the  war  was  to  them  a  lucrative 
trade — their  living. 

When,  therefore,  the  war  was  dragged  on  for  sixteen 
years  longer,  and  for  ten  of  them  without  any  good  reason, 
it  was  because  there  was  no  longer  any  power  to  give  it  a 
political  aim  or  end,  and  because  there  were  many  who 
were  interested  in  perpetuating  the  conflict  and  in  bringing 
the  unhappy  empire  to  utter  ruin. 


PART  X. 

THIRD  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 
RICHELIEU,  OXENSTIERNA,  AND  BERNHARD 
VON  WEIMAR. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

FRANCE   AFTER   THE   DEATH    OF   HENRY    IV.* 

Louis  XIII.,  1610-43  and  Mary  of  Medici. — The  Parliament  of  1614.— 
Murder  of  the  Marshal  d'Ancre,  April,  1617. — The  Duke  oi" 
Luynes.  —  Cardinal  Richelieu,  1624-42,  and  Louis  XIII. — 
Characteristics  of  both. — Richelieu's  political  method. — His  testa- 
ment.— His  rule  at  home  and  abroad. — Fall  of  La  Rochelle,  1628. 
— The  affair  in  the  Valteline  and  the  War  about  Mantua,  1630. 

Louis  XIII.,  1610-1643,  AND  MARY  OF  MEDICI. — THE 
PARLIAMENT  OF  1614. — DEATH  OF  THE  MARSHAL 
D'ANCRE. 

IT  has  already  been  expressly  mentioned  that  by  the  treaty 
of  Barwalde,  Gustavus  Adolphus  provided  that  he 
should  receive  French  subsidies,  but  would  not  agree  to 
any  cession  of  German  territory  nor  to  any  interference  with 
the  conduct  of  the  war  nor  his  policy,  thus  forming  a  striking 
contrast  to  Maurice  of  Saxony,  who  by  the  treaty  of  Cham- 
bord  ceded  the  three  bishoprics  to  France. 

This  lasted  so  long  as  Gustavus  lived.     His  death  was 

*  Besides  the  literature  before  mentioned — Le  Vassor,  Histoire  de 
Louis  XIII.  18  bde.  Michelet,  Hist,  de  France  au  lyeme  Siecle. 
1857,  Vols.  xi.,  xii.  (the  memoirs  of  this  period).  Memoires  de 
Richelieu  in  the  Mem.  relatifs  a  1'histoire  de  France,  1823,  vii.,  viii. 
Testament  politique  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  1764,  2  bde.  Journal  du 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  1664,  2  bde.  Aubery,  Mem.  pour  1'hist.  du 
Cardinal,  1660.  Leclerc,  Vie  du  Card,  de  Richelieu,  1753.  Lettres, 
instructions,  &c.,  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  par  Avenel ;  Paris,  1853. 


484     THIRD   PHASE   OF   THE   THIRTY   YEARS'   WAR. 

a  most  desirable  turn  of  affairs  for  France.  He  had  been 
ostensibly  the  ally  of  Richelieu's  policy,  but  had  in  fact 
curbed  it,  and  when  he  was  out  of  the  way  it  had  freer 
scope  than  it  ever  otherwise  would  have  had. 

Henry  IV.  had  died  just  as  he  was  about  to  interfere  in 
German  difficulties,  and  to  re-assert  the  old  French  policy  of 
opposition  to  Hapsburg  and  the  extension  of  France  towards 
the  east.  His  death  was  a  crisis  for  France,  which  lamed 
her  for  ten  years  ;  but  this  will  surprise  no  one  who  con- 
siders the  condition  in  which  he  found  the  country,  and 
that  a  reign  of  twenty  years  was  not  sufficient  to  overcome 
the  effects  of  the  religious  civil  wars.  It  is  not  in  the  least 
to  be  wondered  at  that  all  the  elements  which  he  had  set  at 
rest  were  in  a  ferment  again.  The  surprise  rather  is  to  what 
an  extent  he  had  controlled  them. 

A  repetition  now  occurred  of  the  period  of  the  Valois, 
only  with  this  great  difference,  that  the  transition  was  not 
marked  by  a  long  civil  war,  and  the  genius  of  a  priestly 
statesman  sufficed  to  establish  the  monarchy  of  Henry  IV. 
on  a  firmer  basis  than  he  had  found  it. 

Louis  XIII.  was  still  a  child,  and  a  regency  was  therefore 
inevitable.  Under  any  circumstances  this  is  an  anxious 
thing,  and  it  was  doubly  so  in  this  case,  because  great  diffi- 
culties had  but  just  been  overcome,  and  the  Regent  was  a 
foreigner  who  had  not  the  smallest  vocation  for  government. 
Mary  of  Medici  was  not  in  the  least  like  Catharine.  She 
was  neither  so  intriguing,  so  malicious,  nor  so  filled  with 
passionate  ambition ;  she  was  rather  a  pleasure-loving  Italian, 
neither  deep  nor  dangerous,  but  entirely  without  the  serious- 
ness required  for  her  task. 

The  traditions  of  Henry  IV.  were  incompatible  with  such 
a  government.  Sully,  who  had  hitherto  had  the  chief  con- 
duct of  affairs,  could  not  control  the  unhealthy  influences 
which  now  came  into  play,  and  as  he  was  not  the  man  to 
belie  his  convictions  for  the  sake  of  keeping  his  portfolio, 
he  resigned;  he  did  not  choose  to  be  responsible  for  a 
system  which  he  did  not  approve.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  was  the  only  dignified  course  for  a  statesman  to 
pursue,  but  it  was  a  rare  example,  and  especially  so  in 
France. 

The  most  reckless  extravagance  ensued ;  offices,  dignities, 
favours  and  pensions  were  lavishly  squandered,  just  what 
might  be  expected  from  a  woman's  government,  confronted 


MARY   OF  MEDICI.  485 

by  an  ambitious  and  exacting  aristocracy.  When  the  great 
lords  asked  for  important  places  they  were  given  to  them, 
to  insure  their  allegiance,  but,  instead  of  having  this  effect, 
it  only  gave  rise  to  new  demands  which  robbed  the  crown 
of  its  resources. 

The  finances,  which  had  only  just  been  extricated  from 
the  difficulties  of  twenty  years,  were  soon  so  exhausted  and 
the  Crown  so  impoverished  that  it  was  compelled  to  have 
recourse  to  those  means  which  Sully  had  studiously  avoided, 
and  which  had  been  quietly  allowed  to  fall  into  disuse  under 
Henry  IV.,  the  States-General  and  assemblies  of  notables. 

Forms  were  thus  reinstated  which  had  been  laid  aside 
for  twenty  years.  In  October,  1614,  the  States  met  at 
Paris.  It  was  the  last  meeting  of  the  Slates-General  of 
old  France,  for  those  of  1789  were  no  longer  the  same. 
Had  these  States  adhered  to  the  historical  traditions  of 
certain  denned  liberties,  had  they  wisely  co-operated  in  the 
administration  and  in  the  enaction  of  laws,  this  assembly  of 
1614  might  have  been  a  most  important  historical  event. 

But  these  conditions  were  entirely  wanting.  The  States- 
General  seemed  to  be  already  defunct ;  all  their  acts  related 
to  separate  class  interests  ;  the  nobles  and  the  clergy  treated 
the  third  estate  with  sovereign  contempt.  Whatever  was 
desired  by  one  party  was  sure  to  be  frustrated  by  another, 
and  no  common  legal  ground  was  recognised.  How  dif- 
ferent in  England  !  Ten  years  later,  the  Stuarts  were  in  a 
situation  similar  to  that  of  the  regency  in  France.  There 
we  see  the  nation,  supported  by  the  traditions  of  the  past 
and  a  never  obsolete  constitutional  law,  skilfully  availing 
itself  of  new  situations,  and  guided  by  courageous  and 
talented  men,  it  enters  upon  a  new  order  of  things.  Where 
was  the  third  estate  in  France  which  could  aspire  to  take  a 
part  in  the  government,  where  the  lower  house  that  could 
say,  "  We  are  three  times  as  rich  as  your  house  of  Lords," 
where  the  independent  men  who  could  lead  the  attack  upon 
the  monarchy ! 

This  meeting  of  the  States-General  sufficed  to  bury  their 
rights  for  ever. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  devote  a  little  attention  to  this 
last  assembly  of  the  States  of  old  France,  for  its  transactions 
are  characteristic  of  the  period,  and  of  the  relations  between 
them  and  the  crown  ;  it  is  also  not  without  importance  for 
a  comprehension  of  the  situation  of  the  people.  The 


486    THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

mission  of  the  Assembly,  as  it  was  defined  by  the  King,  in 
a  short  opening  speech,  was  to  bring  the  grievances  of  the 
different  States  before  the  crown.  Each  estate  held  sepa- 
rate sittings  to  draw  up  statements  of  such  grievances,  and 
each  informed  the  others  by  message,  of  what  it  considered 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  brought  forward. 

A  great  diversity  of  demands  a;  d  interests  at  once  came 
to  light. 

The  nobles  and  clergy,  desired  the  abolition  of  the  sale 
of  places,  which  involved  exclusion  of  the  burgher  class 
from  official  posts,  but  the  representatives  of  the  third 
estate,  who  almost  all  held  such  offices,  were  against  it, 
until  the  annuities  and  gratuities  granted  to  the  great  nobles 
should  also  be  abolished.  The  discussion  of  this  gave  rise 
to  bitter  accusations  of  one  class  against  another.  The 
third  estate  stated,  in  the  king's  presence,  that  the  nobles 
plundered  the  State,  and  that  by  the  enormous  expenses  to 
which  they  had  compelled  the  government,  things  were 
brought  to  such  a  pass  that  the  people  were  obliged  to  go 
into  the  fields  and  eat  grass  like  oxen.  The  nobles  then 
defended  themselves  ;  some  thought  these  expressions  slan- 
derous, others  considered  the  citizen  class  so  far  beneath 
the  nobles  that  the  accusations  were  beneath  contempt. 
But  no  agreement  was  come  to  on  the  main  question. 

It  was  just  the  same  with  the  second  point.  The  clergy 
demanded  the  proclamation  of  the  decrees  of  the  Council 
of  Trent ;  though  with  a  reservation  of  all  the  liberties  of 
the  Gallican  Church,  but  the  third  estate  was  decidedly 
opposed  to  it,  fearing  the  condemnation  of  the  heretics  and 
the  introduction  of  the  Jesuits. 

There  was  another  sharp  discussion  about  the  Jesuits  in 
the  assembly.  The  third  estate  legally  opposed  the  here- 
tical political  doctrine  of  the  Jesuits  as  to  the  insecurity  of 
all  temporal  political  power,  and  the  right  of  the  masses  to 
revolt.  It  demanded  that  it  should  be  declared  by  an  in- 
violable and  fundamental  law,  that  as  the  King  was  acknow- 
ledged as  sovereign  ruler  in  his  own  country  and  derived 
his  crown  from  God,  no  power  on  earth,  temporal  or 
spiritual,  had  any  right  to  his  kingdom,  neither  to  deprive 
his  sacred  person  of  it,  nor  to  release  his  subjects  from  their 
fealty  under  any  pretext  whatsoever. 

Behind  these  differences  lurked  the  religious  controversy  ; 
it  would  have  been  a  hard  task  to  settle  it,  even  to  a  strong 


THE   PARLIAMENT   OF    1614.  487 

government,  and  a  weak  one  could  in  no  wise  adjust  the 
differences.  While  Conde,  Bouillon,  Rohan,  Soubise,  and 
Sully,  seemed  ready  to  take  up  arms  against  the  govern- 
ment, allied  as  it  was  with  Spain,  attention  was  excited  by 
the  determination  with  which  Armand  du  Plessis  de  Riche- 
lieu, Bishop  of  Lugon,  asserted  the  right  of  the  Catholic 
clergy  to  a  share  in  the  government,  and  demanded  the 
proclamation  of  the  decrees  of  Trent.  Clearly  and  firmly 
he  developed  his  ideas  of  church  and  state,  and  the 
emphasis  with  which  he  spoke,  bore  witness  to  the  self- 
reliance  of  this  dignitary  of  the  Church. 

The  government  became  more  pitiful  and  helpless  every 
day ;  it  was  obliged  to  make  all  sorts  of  concessions ;  all 
parties,  and  each  with  louder  threats  than  the  last,  made 
demands  upon  the  crown,  and  the  government  was  so  inti- 
midated that  it  consented  to  contradictory  things. 

The  chief  influence  at  Court  had  fallen  into  hands  which 
no  party  could  tolerate,  and  which  reminded  the  nation  that 
France  was  governed  by  a  foreign  regency. 

The  Queen,  Mary  of  Medici,  had  brought  with  her  from 
Florence,  a  waiting  maid,  Eleonora  Galigai,  a  cautious, 
reserved  Italian ;  she  dressed  the  Queen's  hair,  and  at  the 
same  time  gained  possession  of  her  ear.  She  was  married 
to  a  certain  Concino  Concini,  a  Florentine  of  obscure  birth 
and  in  decayed  circumstances,  who  had  made  her  acquaint- 
ance on  the  voyage  from  France.  The  attitude  of  this 
couple  was  a  model  of  that  Italian  virtuosoship  which  can 
accommodate  itself  to  all  circumstances ;  can  be  at  first  con- 
tent with  a  little,  and  when  it  has  gained  a  footing  assumes 
the  policy  of  the  parvenu. 

The  Concinis  made  themselves  indispensable  to  the 
Queen,  had  a  finger  in  all  the  court  intrigues,  were  now  in 
league  with  this  coterie,  now  with  that,  and  preyed  upon 
them  all.  She  collected  treasures,  he  acquired  offices  and 
dignities,  rose  step  by  step,  was  adorned  with  all  sorts  of 
titles,  and  finally  created  Marquis  d'Ancre,  and  Marshal  of 
France. 

This  favouritism  was  a  thorn  in  the  sides  of  all,  and  of 
course  all  the  faults  of  the  government  were  ascribed  to  it. 

The  Queen  adopted  a  policy  more  and  more  opposed  to 
that  recurrence  to  ancient  traditional  policy,  which  was 
inaugurated  by  Henry  IV. ;  she  leagued  herself  with  Spain, 
by  treaties  and  marriage  contracts,  and  the  lukewarmness 


488    THIRD   PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

that  she  evinced  in  all  government  transactions  deprived 
her  of  the  confidence  of  all  parties. 

The  discontent  which  was  most  loudly  expressed  by  the 
princes  and  the  eminent  Huguenots,  fermented  for  a  long 
time  and  became  deeper  and  deeper. 

In  1614-15,  a  blow  could  be  foreseen,  which  would  put 
an  end  to  this  misgovernment.  Meanwhile,  the  King  had 
reached  the  age  of  sixteen  ;  he  also  had  his  advisers  and 
courtiers,  and  thus  a  remarkable  schism  took  place.  The 
Court  of  the  Queen  did  just  what  it  pleased,  and  another 
party  assembled  around  the  King  and  devised  the  fall  of 
the  favourite. 

The  recollection  of  a  fearful  time  was  still  fresh  in  men's 
minds,  when  assassination  was  quite  in  vogue,  and  the  idea 
presented  itself  to  some  of  Concini's  foes  that  he  must  be 
murdered.  The  Marshal  was  summoned  to  the  King,  and, 
as  he  was  crossing  the  bridge  to  the  Louvre,  in  April,  1617, 
he  was  struck  by  a  fatal  shot. 

It  was  a  singular  coincidence  that  the  beginning  of  the 
King's  independent  reign  should  be  marked  by  a  political 
murder. 

When  he  heard  that  Concini  had  fallen,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Now  I  am  king."  But  he  was  mistaken ;  it  soon  appeared 
that  he  had  only  exchanged  his  Mayor  of  the  Palace. 

Among  his  playfellows  was  the  Duke  de  Luynes,  a  man 
with  a  large  family  connection,  clever  and  adroit,  quite  a 
match  for  Concini ;  he  now  became  the  all-powerful 
favourite,  and  the  only  difference  between  the  new  govern- 
ment and  the  old  was  that  the  duke  was  a  native  and  had 
the  nobles  on  his  side  instead  of  an  Italian  adventurer. 

CARDINAL  RICHELIEU,  1624-42,  AND  Louis  XIII. 

The  real  change,  however,  took  place  with  the  Duke's 
death  in  1621,  when  the  King  was  again  obliged  to  choose 
a  Mayor  of  the  Palace. 

Since  the  murder  of  the  Marquis  d'Ancre,  the  King  and 
his  mother  had  not  been  on  good  terms.  The  Queen  had 
to  lament  the  loss  of  all  political  influence,  together  with 
that  of  her  favourite,  and  on  the  death  of  the  Duke  de 
Luynes,  she  thought  of  the  clever  bishop  Richelieu,  who 
had  attracted  the  attention  of  all  at  the  meeting  of  the 
States-General  in  1614.  He  first  appears  as  a  mediator 


LOUIS  XIII.  489 

between  the  King  and  Queen,  begins  to  take  a  part  in 
politics  in  1621,  and,  after  1624,  guides  the  policy  of 
France. 

This  office  of  Mayor  of  the  Palace,  which  Richelieu  held 
for  twenty  years,  placed  him  in  a  singular  position,  for  the 
King  never  liked  him,  never  reposed  confidence  in  him ;  he 
always  had  the  painful  feeling  of  dependence  on  a  superior 
will,  and  yet,  conscious  of  his  own  inability,  he  allowed  him 
to  govern  France.  For  twenty  years,  all  sorts  of  attempts 
were  made  to  deprive  the  Cardinal  of  his  power ;  mother, 
wife,  brother,  favourite,  parties,  and  factions  all  tried  to 
persude  the  King  to  dismiss  him,  and  he  was  often  on  the 
verge  of  a  precipice ;  a  hint  from  the  King  would  have  con- 
signed him  to  the  obscurity  of  a  prison,  still  it  was  always 
the  King  himself  who  prevented  it,  and  would  not  part 
with  him,  perhaps  because  he  secretly  feared  him,  and 
had  an  idea  that  the  man  represented  the  greatness  and 
power  of  France. 

Louis  XIII.  was  now  twenty-three  years  of  age ;  he  had 
always  been  a  weakly  boy,  and  had  nothing  of  his  father's 
talents.  He  was  grave,  monosyllabic,  and  insignifiant  look- 
ing, his  whole  appearance  gave  the  impression  of  a  common- 
place person.  But  he  was  also  free  from  his  father's  bad 
qualities,  he  was  free  from  his  soldier-like  licentiousness  and 
sensuality ;  he  was  more  respectable  and  less  given  to 
excess  than  any  king  before  Louis  XVI.  He  was  so 
prosaic  and  taciturn  that  it  was  quite  an  event  if  a  friendly 
word  to  one  of  the  ladies  of  the  Court  escaped  him,  but 
during  the  whole  of  his  life  he  was  addicted  to  anything 
rather  than  the  cares  of  royalty.  He  tried  to  harden  his 
weakly  body  by  the  chase  and  physical  exercises,  his  mili- 
tary tastes  were  expended  in  playing  at  soldiers  with  some 
Swiss  youths,  whom  he  exercised  in  making  a  collection  of 
curious  arms,  in  erecting  little  fortresses,  &c. ;  instead  of 
governing  men,  he  trained  hawks  and  falcons;  but  with 
all  these  innocent  fancies,  one  virtue  was  united,  he  was 
free  from  the  ambition  which  had  filled  the  minds  of  the 
last  of  the  Valois,  without  in  the  least  better  fitting  them  for 
their  calling  ;  although  placed  by  destiny  in  the  first  place, 
he  was  modest  enough  to  condemn  himself  to  the  second, 
and  to  allow  those  who  were  more  competent  to  rule. 
Singularly  enough,  he  died  immediately  after  Richelieu. 
His  self-denying  subjection  to  a  minister  whom  he  did  not 


490    THIRD  PHASE   OF   THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

like  is  unique  in  history.  It  arose  from  an  idea  that 
Richelieu  was  the  man  to  establish  the  greatest  monarchy 
in  the  world. 

Richelieu  began  to  take  part  in  the  government  about 
1620;  first  in  the  anxious  position  of  a  mediator  between 
two  contending  parties  at  Court,  then  as  the  leading  man 
who  ruled  everything. 

He  had  been  trained  in  a  remarkable  political  school. 

When  the  States-General  met  in  1614  he  was  under  thirty 
years  of  age,  but  had  excited  general  surprise  by  his  gift  of 
eloquence.  He  early  betrayed  the  qualifications  of  a  born 
statesman,  whom  chance  only  had  clothed  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical garb ;  indeed  he  afterwards  displayed  more  skill  in 
everything  than  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  The  Roman 
purple  was  to  him  but  an  outward  garment,  though  a  wel- 
come aid  on  account  of  the  authority  it  conferred. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  ecclesiastical  power  had 
still  weight  enough  to  accomplish  more  than  the  secular 
arm,  and  it  is  certain  that  Richelieu  could  not  have  ven- 
tured on  many  of  the  things  which  he  did  without  the 
palladium  of  the  clerical  garb.  His  most  intimate  confidant 
in  his  foreign  policy  was  a  Capuchin  monk,  a  man  belong- 
ing to  the  old  French  nobility,  and  inspired  with  the  cor- 
responding ambition.  He  and  his  alter-ego,  Pater  Joseph, 
established  a  state  which  more  than  any  other  assumed  a 
development  opposed  to  the  Romish  ecclesiastical  power, 
and  sought  to  make  the  hierarchy  of  the  Church  a  hierarchy 
of  the  State. 

The  family  from  which  Richelieu  sprang  belonged  to  the 
old  French  nobility.  Men  of  the  race  of  Du  Plessis,  who 
had  distinguished  themselves,  could  be  mentioned  even  in 
early  times.  He  had  nothing,  therefore,  of  the  unequal 
birth  of  the  parvenu  who  has  laboured  hard  to  attain  his 
position,  and  then  displays  audacity  on  the  one  hand  and 
cowardice  on  the  other.  Richelieu  had  the  stately  gait  of 
a  well-born  man,  who  rules  the  nobles,  not  as  a  plebeian, 
but  as  the  representative  of  a  political  idea,  who  can 
venture  to  oppose  his  equals.  His  path  brings  him  into 
contact  with  the  highest  personages  in  the  State,  and  he 
pursues  it  without  faltering. 

He  found  circumstances,  as  they  were  sure  to  be  after 
thirteen  years  of  misgovernment,  without  principles  or 
power.  The  State  was  in  the  utmost  confusion ;  there  was 


CARDINAL  RICHELIEU.  491 

neither  orderly  administration  nor  regular  income,  nor  a 
healthy  financial  condition.  No  obedience  was  rendered 
to  the  Government  :  the  officials  either  did  what  they 
pleased,  or  were  under  the  command  of  the  great  nobles  or 
powerful  governors,  whose  favour  was  of  more  importance 
than  that  of  the  King  and  his  ministers.  All  the  popular 
advantages  of  a  good  government  were  also  sacrificed ;  uni- 
formity of  the  law,  security  of  person  and  property  in  town 
and  country.  The  advantages  of  Sully's  administration 
were  sorely  missed,  and  France  no  longer  maintained  the 
distinguished  position  in  foreign  affairs  to  which  she  had 
been  raised  by  Henry  IV.  This  great  monarchy  exercised 
scarcely  any  influence  upon  the  fate  of  Europe.  If  Spain 
took  her  in  tow,  she  might,  with  the  help  of  her  Hapsburg 
relations,  help  France  to  regain  her  lost  possessions. 

All  this  had  to  be  changed  ;  internally  the  use  of  its 
natural  powers  must  be  restored  to  the  State ;  it  must 
regain  the  influence  abroad  which  was  its  due. 

Richelieu  was  resolved  to  recur  to  the  home  and  foreign 
policy  of  Henry  IV.,  and  especially  to  sever  the  bond  with 
Spain.  His  plan  was  to  take  part  in  the  great  war  which  was 
just  begun,  and  to  round  off  France  at  the  expense  of  the 
German  empire. 

But  before  this  could  be  seriously  thought  of,  the  internal 
administration  must  be  readjusted ;  before  he  could  send 
his  armies  to  take  part  in  the  German  war,  France  must 
have  a  government  which  could  secure  the  service  of  her 
subjects  and  the  use  of  the  country's  wealth  ;  the  monarchy 
must  regain  popularity,  factions  must  be  humbled,  and  the 
trustworthiness  of  officials  restored. 

The  first  ten  years  of  Richelieu's  reign  were  devoted  to 
this  task  of  renovating  the  French  state,  and  it  was  the  part 
of  his  labours  most  worthy  of  admiration. 

Richelieu  never  could  tell  in  the  morning  whether  he 
should  be  at  the  helm  in  the  evening.  Countermines  were 
continually  at  work  against  him,  instigated  by  the  King's 
mother  and  brother,  the  nobles,  the  clergy,  and  the  Pro- 
testants ;  he  had  to  be  perpetually  on  the  watch  to  frustrate 
these  intrigues,  yet  never  to  interrupt  the  course  of  business. 
He  succeeded  perfectly.  He  pursues  undaunted  the  path 
he  had  marked  out  for  himself,  and  his  daily  struggle  to 
maintain  his  power  is  never  apparent,  neither  does  the 
admirable  and  persevering  energy  come  to  light  with  which 


4Q2     THIRD   PHASE  OF   THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

he  overcomes  all  sorts  of  hindrances,  the  dexterity  which 
enables  him  to  anticipate  all  the  devices  of  the  enemy,  or 
the  boldness  with  which  he  makes  all  around  him  feel  the 
power  of  a  great  master.  He  has  identified  himself  with 
the  State ;  whoever  opposes  him  opposes  the  State ;  in  the 
name  of  the  common  weal  he  banishes  the  King's  mother 
and  brother,  sends  many  of  his  opponents  to  the  scaffold, 
and  does  not  spare  the  highest. 

It  may  be  imagined  that  it  was  not  an  amiable  rule. 
Authoritative  measures,  espionage,  interception  of  corre- 
spondence, executions  and  imprisonments,  were  indis- 
pensable to  it.  But  in  all  this  his  personal  interests  always 
coincided  with  the  demands  of  the  common  weal ;  he  was 
the  State ;  his  ambition  was  the  greatness  of  France ;  all 
that  was  French  was  his  interest ;  all  that  was  opposed  to 
him  was  opposed  to  France.  He  did  not  pursue  his  per- 
sonal enemies  as  such — he  mostly  despised  them — but  woe 
to  those  who  brought  family  interests  or  factions  to  bear 
against  him ;  on  these  he  inflicted  the  most  severe  chas- 
tisement.* 

A  nation  does  not  easily  submit  to  such  a  rule ;  but  the 
French  do  so  more  readily  than  any  other.  They  willingly 
sacrifice  peace  and  comfort  for  splendour,  surrender  liberty 
to  a  strong  government  which  secures  fame  and  martial 
glory.  Richelieu  conferred  outward  splendour  on  France, 
and  created  internal  order  ;  but  religious  and  political 
liberty  had  to  be  confined  within  the  narrowest  limits.  His 
rule  was  violent  and  unrelenting ;  but  even  his  enemies  did 
not  deny  that  it  was  able,  and  therefore  it  was  a  turning- 
point  in  history,  not  only  for  France  but  for  Europe. 

RICHELIEU'S  POLITICAL  METHOD. 

All  Europe  took  to  imitating  his  system,  and  Louis  XIV. 
was  not  the  originator,  but  only  the  inheritor,  of  those  ideas 
of  political  power  and  sagacity  which,  under  him,  made  the 
round  of  European  governments. 

The  principles  of,  and  precepts  for,  his  method  of  govern- 
ment are  laid  down  in  the  observations  comprised  in  the 
political  testament,  so  called,  of  Cardinal  Richelieu,f  and 
which  were  written  either  by  himself  or  from  his  dictation. 

*  For  Richelieu's  characteristics  see  Ranke,  II.  531. 
t  Schmidt,  III.  464. 


CARDINAL  RICHELIEU.  403 

The  following  are  some  of  the  most  important  points. 
The  most  necessary  thing  for  a  government  to  secure  is  the 
unconditional  obedience  of  all — "  the  most  secure  founda- 
tion of  the  submissiveness  which  is  indispensable  to  the 
existence  of  states."  In  order  to  this  it  is  necessary  for  the 
government  itself  to  possess  a  resolute  will  to  accomplish 
what,  after  due  consideration,  it  considers  to  be  right,  that 
it  should  never  falter  in  its  course,  and  severely  punish  the 
contumacious.  The  government  of  the  country  demands 
manly  vigour  and  unswerving  firmness,  the  opposite  of  that 
yielding  weakness  which  exposes  the  country  to  danger  and 
infuses  courage  into  the  enemy.  Most  of  the  great  schemes 
of  France  have  failed,  because  she  has  been  deterred  by  the 
first  difficulty  from  prosecuting  them.  Unswerving  con- 
sistency, secrecy,  and  despatch  are  the  best  methods  of 
insuring  success.  Further,  political  objects  must  always,  and 
in  every  case,  be  supreme  over  every  other  consideration. 

Public  interests  must  be  the  sole  object  of  the  ruler  and 
his  ministers  ;  it  is  a  great  evil  for  the  State  when  private 
are  preferred  to  public  interests.  The  majority  of  the 
misfortunes  that  have  happened  to  France  have  been 
caused  by  the  devotion  of  many  organs  in  the  administra- 
tion to  their  own  interests,  to  the  detriment  of  those  of  the 
State,  and  by  the  fact  that  compassion  and  favour  have 
prevented  the  carrying  out  of  good  resolutions. 

Punishments  and  rewards  must  be  adjusted,  so  as  to 
keep  their  end  in  view.  The  latter  are  not  to  be  despised ; 
but  the  former  are  more  often  necessary,  for  they  are  less 
easily  forgotten.  Not  to  punish  an  important  error,  which 
might  open  wide  the  doors  to  license,  is  criminal  neglect, 
and  there  is  no  greater  injury  to  the  public  good  than  to  be 
indulgent  towards  those  who  endanger  it. 

This  indulgence  has  produced  an  anarchy  in  France 
which  has  only  served  the  cause  of  the  numerous  parties, 
and  has  greatly  injured  the  royal  authority.  In  the  case 
of  political  crimes  pity  must  be  set  aside,  and  the  com- 
plaints of  the  accused,  as  well  as  the  babble  of  the  ignorant 
masses,  disregarded  ;  for  they  often  find  fault  with  what  is 
most  salutary  for  them,  and  absolutely  necessary.  It  is  a 
Christian  duty  to  forget  personal  offences ;  but  to  forget 
offences  against  the  State,  to  let  them  go  unpunished,  is 
not  to  forgive  them,  it  is  to  commit  them  anew.  In  ordinary 
matters  justice  requires  full  proof  of  guilt ;  but  not  so  in 


494    THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

the  case  of  political  crimes  ;  then  conjecture,  derived  from 
strong  probability,  must  often  suffice,  because  the  formation 
of  parties  against  the  public  good  is  generally  conducted 
with  so  much  cunning  and  secrecy  that  proof  is  only  possible 
when  it  is  too  late  to  punish. 

The  motto,  therefore,  is,  All  for,  but  nothing  by  the 
people. 

The  Cardinal  asserts  the  rights  of  the  State  in  relation 
to  the  Church. 

It  is  the  duty  of  rulers  in  spiritual  matters  to  be  subject  to 
the  Popes  as  the  successors  of  St.  Peter  and  the  vicegerents 
of  Christ ;  but  they  are  not  to  suffer  any  interference  from 
them  in  temporal  affairs.  In  making  appointments  to 
bishoprics,  abbacies,  and  smaller  benefices,  the  king  should 
consider  merit,  an  exemplary  life,  and  uprightness  of  cha- 
racter. Persons  of  loose  morals  should  be  excluded,  and 
those  who  offend  must  be  punished,  so  as  to  make  examples 
of  them. 

The  position  of  the  nobility,  one  of  the  main  sinews  of 
the  State,  requires  reform.  The  nobles  must  be  protected 
against  the  large  number  of  officials  who  have  been  raised 
up  to  their  disadvantage;  but  they  must  be  restrained  in 
their  acts  of  violence  towards  the  people.  They  must  be 
protected  in  the  possession  of  their  estates,  and  the  acquisi- 
tion of  new  ones  must  be  made  easy,  that  they  may  regain 
their  former  dignity,  and  not  be  incapacitated  for  serving 
the  State  in  war.  This  last  is  the  main  thing ;  a  nobility 
which  is  not  ready  to  render  military  service  to  the  State  is 
a  luxury,  even  a  burden,  to  it,  and  does  not  deserve  the  privi- 
leges and  dignities  which  distinguish  it  from  the  burgher  class. 

The  judges  in  the  parliaments  shall  pronounce  sentence 
on  the  subjects,  for  that  is  the  purpose  for  which  they  are 
appointed  ;  but  they  shall  not  assume  to  do  more.  They 
are  not  to  be  permitted  to  interfere  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Church,  nor  in  the  enaction  of  laws.  It  would  be  the  ruin 
of  the  royal  authority  if  the  officials  were  allowed  to  have 
a  voice  in  political  questions,  for  which  they  have  neither 
the  necessary  knowledge  nor  power  of  comprehension. 

The  people  must  be  kept  in  a  state  of  subjection.  The 
taxes  serve  to  hinder  them  from  becoming  too  prosperous, 
and  from  surpassing  the  limits  of  their  duty. 

The  burdens  which  remind  the  people  of  their  subjection 
should  not  be  too  heavy ;  they  should  be  in  proportion 


RICHELIEU'S  POLITICAL  TESTAMENT.       495 

to  their  ability  to  pay,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  rulers  not  to 
exact  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary.  In  extraordinary 
cases  they  should  lay  claim  to  the  superfluity  of  the  rich 
before  bleeding  the  poor  to  an  extraordinary  degree. 

In  the  matter  of  instruction  and  learning  great  caution  is 
needful.  A  knowledge  of  the  sciences  is  indeed  a  great 
ornament  to  the  State,  and  cannot  be  dispensed  with ;  but 
it  is  equally  certain  that  it  cannot  be  imparted  to  every  one 
without  distinction.  As  a  body  having  eyes  in  every  part 
would  be  a  monster,  so  would  a  State  possessing  only 
learned  subjects,  who  would  exhibit  pride  and  assumption, 
but  would  not  render  obedience. 

Learning  would  ruin  trade,  which  enriches  the  State,  and 
agriculture,  which  is  the  true  nourisher  of  the  people ;  it 
would  in  a  short  time  depopulate  the  nursery-ground  of 
soldiers,  who  flourish  far  better  in  ignorance  than  amidst 
the  refinements  of  learning.  Learning  itself  would  be 
desecrated  by  being  communicated  to  all  alike ;  there 
would  soon  be  more  people  to  raise  doubts  than  to  solve 
them,  to  oppose  truth  than  to  defend  it.  Too  large  a 
number  of  colleges  and  classes  is  an  evil. 

It  will  be  sufficient  in  towns  which  are  not  capital 
cities  if  the  colleges  are  limited  to  two  or  three  classes, 
which  are  enough  to  raise  the  youth  out  of  too  great 
ignorance  ;  those  who  are  capable  of  more  must  be  sent 
to  the  large  cities. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  is  not  so  much  a  new  system  as 
a  new  method,  which  aims  to  effect  the  absolutism  of  the 
power  of  the  State,  while  it  never  loses  sight  of  the  interests 
of  the  populace.  There  is  as  yet  nothing  of  the  Sultanism 
to  which  it  degenerated  under  Louis  XIV. ;  nothing  of  that 
boundless  increase  of  the  burdens  of  the  State,  the  absorption 
of  the  State  in  the  Court,  nothing  of  the  blind  despotism 
which  is  destructive  of  the  roots  of  its  own  existence. 

This  centralisation  of  the  political  power  in  one  hand, 
the  limitation  of  the  mediaeval  corporations,  estates,  and 
privileges ;  this  simplification  of  the  machinery  of  State, 
this  provision  for  equal  rights  and  rational  administration, 
for  sparing  and  furthering  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
people ;  this  is  the  absolutism  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
which  we  now  see  exhibited  by  its  first  able  representative, 
and  it  was  a  policy  which  was  to  be  nobly  pursued  b> 
Frederic  William,  the  great  Elector. 


496     THIRD   PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

A  new  sort  of  administration  was  now  introduced  by 
means  of  paid  officials,  who  gradually  displaced  the  rule  of 
the  nobles  and  the  power  of  provincial  governors  ;  that  sort 
of  centralisation,  in  short,  which,  since  De  Tocqueville's  time, 
has  not  been  looked  upon  as  a  product  of  1789,  but  as  a 
creation  of  the  ancient  regime.  People  of  the  burgher 
class,  without  family  interests,  and  entirely  dependent  on 
the  Government,  became  the  organs  of  the  State.  The 
masses  felt  this  to  be  a  great  advantage,  having  learnt  that 
under  the  rule  of  the  nobles  there  was  no  security  of  life 
or  property.  For  the  same  reason  Richelieu  was  able  to 
put  an  end  to  the  great  corporations,  or  to  let  them  decay 
and  die  out.  He  was  backed  by  the  people,  who  rejoiced 
to  see  him  restrain  and  punish  the  arrogance  of  the  great. 
What  was  it  to  them  if  now  and  then  one  of  the  highest 
nobles  was  thrown  over  night  into  the  Bastille  or  was  brought 
to  the  scaffold? 

RICHELIEU'S  ADMINISTRATION  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD. 

His  relations  with  Rome  and  the  Huguenots  were  peculiar 
and  thoroughly  statesmanlike.  He  made  both  parties  feel 
equally  the  power  of  the  law  and  the  national  interests  of 
France. 

As  to  his  relations  with  Rome,  he  was  in  fact  a  secular 
politician  rather  than  a  spiritual  ruler,  and  outwardly  he 
allied  himself  with  the  heretics  and  took  the  field  against 
the  Catholics.  This  was  painfully  felt  at  Rome  ;  but  the 
man  was  too  powerful  for  them  to  venture  to  do  anything  . 
against  the  minister  of  the  most  Christian  king,  though  a 
half-suppressed  sigh  might  escape  them. 

Henry  IV.  had  given  the  Huguenots  too  much,  not 
religious,  but  political  liberty,  fortresses  garrisoned  by  them- 
selves and  great  civic  privileges.  In  the  recent  revolts  it 
had  repeatedly  happened  that  discontented  nobles  had 
appeared  at  the  head  of  the  Protestants,  and  had  turned 
the  possession  of  fortresses,  like  La  Rochelle,  to  goou 
advantage  against  the  Crown.  This  was  an  abuse  which 
could  only  be  dangerous  to  Protestantism.  Then  this  re- 
public of  a  self-governing  religious  party  within  a  monarchy, 
this  State  within  the  State,  was  not  to  be  put  up  with. 
Richelieu  did  not  attempt  to  abolish  the  toleration  of 
different  creeds,  though  it  could  not  fail  to  suffer  if  the 


RICHELIEU'S  POLICY.  497 

surest  pledges  of  it  were  done  away ;  but  this  political 
isolation  which  so  easily  led  to  open  rebellion  must  cease. 

Fanatical  zeal  for  conversion  was  not  his  forte,  but  it  was 
quite  in  accordance  with  his  principles  to  deprive  the  Pro- 
testants of  their  fortresses,  garrisons,  and  self-government ; 
and  the  skill  with  which  he  prevailed  over  them  is  peculiar 
to  him.  At  first  he  weakened  the  position  of  the  Huguenots 
in  alliance  with  England,  the  natural  ally  of  Protestantism, 
and  employed  English  ships  against  La  Rochelle;  but  when 
England  saw  her  mistake,  and  came  with  a  great  fleet  to 
the  help  of  the  Protestants,  he  was  strong  enough  in  spite 
of  this,  late  in  the  autumn  of  1628,  to  overthrow  La 
Rochelle.  The  fall  of  this  great  fortress  was  a  catastrophe 
for  the  privileged  position  of  the  Reform  party,  but  it  did 
not  result  in  any  powerful  reaction  against  their  creed. 

There  was  now  neither  man  nor  party  in  a  position  to  set 
Richelieu  at  defiance.  The  King  was  completely  under  his 
influence ;  the  aristocracy  were  partly  intimidated,  partly 
made  harmless ;  the  clergy  obeyed  him ;  the  Huguenots, 
who  a  few  years  before  shared  the  King's  power,  were  now 
only  a  sect,  no  longer  a  political  party. 

For  an  effective  foreign  policy  two  things  were  wanting ; 
well-ordered  finances — always  his  weak  point — and  an 
efficient  army.  Neither  could  be  obtained  quickly,  especially 
the  latter,  with  limited  means.  He  therefore  proceeded  at 
first  with  caution,  contented  himself  with  moderate  results ; 
but  he  was  continually  negotiating,  and  ever  alert  to  let 
no  favourable  opportunity  slip,  and  to  keep  everything  in 
his  power.  The  chess  moves  of  his  foreign  policy  may  be 
counted  on  the  fingers.  No  alliance  with  Spain,  but  oppo- 
sition to  the  whole  house  of  Hapsburg,  for  where  France 
abutted  on  its  Spanish  and  German  possessions,  France  had 
an  ancient  hankering  for  the  acquisition  of  territory.  In 
league  with  Spain  she  would  have  the  approval  of  the 
papal  party,  but  that  would  be  all ;  in  conflict  with  her 
there  was  a  prospect  of  rich  booty.  The  Pyrenees  were  not 
then  the  real  boundary  of  France;  Spain  still  possessed 
Burgundy,  and  some  parts  of  the  South  of  France,  and  the 
chain  of  fortresses  from  the  Ardennes  to  Ostende,  by  the 
possession  of  which  France  first  became  what  she  now  is. 

After  the  course  the  great  German  war  had  taken  during 
the  second  decade,  the  danger  did  not  seem  so  distant  that 
Ferdinand  and  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs  might  regain  their 

K  K 


498     THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

position.  Since  the  victories  of  the  League,  the  decline  of 
the  Union,  the  progress  of  Tilly,  the  subjugation  of  the 
revolution  in  Bohemia  and  Upper  Austria,  and  the  restora- 
tion in  Central  and  North  Germany,  Ferdinand  had  acquired 
a  position  in  and  beyond  his  hereditary  dominions,  such  as 
had  never  been  attained  by  Charles  V.,  and  in  the  ancient 
Hapsburg  territory  between  France  and  Germany,  an  effec- 
tive Spanish  army  had  appeared  under  Spinola,  which  was 
renewing  the  war  in  the  Netherlands,  and  advancing  up  the 
German  Rhine;  in  short  fresh  courage  and  ambition  seemed 
to  have  been  infused  into  the  power  which,  at  the  close  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  had  appeared  to  be  approaching 
dissolution,  and  its  increasing  success  could  not  be  in- 
different to  a  watchful  French  statesman. 

If  the  genuine  French  idea  were  once  conceived  of  keep- 
ing down  the  old  Hapsburgian  rival,  alliances  would  follow  as 
a  matter  of  course.  England,  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden, 
the  German  Protestants,  all  the  heretics  in  the  world  were 
desirable  allies  to  help  to  oppose  Spain. 

It  had  cost  Henry  IV.  his  life  that  he  had  been  a  Hugue- 
not, and  as  a  Catholic  king  pursued  a  heretical  foreign 
policy.  It  was  thought  that  this  betrayed  the  fact  that  at 
heart  he  was  a  heretic  still.  This  was  a  reproach  which 
could  not  be  cast  on  a  cardinal  of  the  Romish  Church,  who 
kept  outwardly  within  her  bounds  and  had  destroyed  the 
power  of  the  Protestants  at  home.  People  did  not  regard 
his  religious  but  only  his  political  motives,  and  these  were 
forgiven  when  there  was  no  help  for  it. 

Richelieu  began  to  make  the  voice  of  France  heard  in 
smaller  questions,  such  as  in  the  Valteline  and  Mantua, 

The  Valteline  was  the  key  between  the  old  Duchy  of 
Milan,  now  Lombardy,  and  the  Tyrol,  the  mountain  fortress 
of  the  German  Hapsburg  territory.  The  country  was  of 
the  greatest  strategical  importance,  and  rich  in  all  the 
products  of  a  fruitful  soil ;  it  was  then  dependent  neither 
on  Spain  nor  Hapsburg.  During  the  time  of  the  fierce 
persecution  of  the  Protestants  in  Italy,  after  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  the  Grisons  had  become  a  refuge  for 
the  exiled  Italians,  and  on  this  Roman  soil  a  very  strict 
form  of  Calvinism  had  been  established.  The  Engadine 
is  still  more  rigidly  Calvin istic  than  any  other  country  in 
the  world.  The  country  was  dependent  on  Rhastia,  but 
was  protected  in  its  creed.  In  July,  1620,  at  the  instiga- 


RICHELIEU  AND   GUSTAVUS   ADOLPHUS.       499 

tion  of  various  persons,  something  like  the  Sicilian  vespers 
took  place  among  the  Protestants.  Horrible  deeds  were  per- 
petrated ;  on  the  northern  slopes  of  the  Lake  of  Como  the 
castles  may  still  be  seen  from  which  the  Spaniards  attempted 
the  invasion,  and  Bibles  may  still  be  found  in  the  villages 
in  which  the  grandfather  inscribed  the  names  of  some  of  the 
murdered.  After  this  the  Spaniards  occupied  all  the  for- 
tresses, and  the  German  Hapsburgs  were  well  content  to 
have  their  Spanish  cousins  for  neighbours. 

It  was  under  Richelieu  that  French  policy  assumed  an 
attitude  in  this  question,  at  first  purely  a  local  one,  that 
gave  it  importance.  Richelieu  interfered,  sent  an  army  into 
the  Valteline,  drove  out  the  foreign  troops,  and  thus  pre- 
vented the  Hapsburg  power  from  possessing  itself  of  this 
important  Alpine  pass. 

A  similar  case  occurred  in  Mantua.  There  the  Spanish 
claims  were  contested  by  those  of  a  French  noble,  the  Duke 
of  Nevers.  This  gave  Richelieu  the  desired  pretext  for 
securing  a  footing  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lombardy. 
Himself  in  armour,  he  came  at  the  head  of  an  army,  drove 
the  Spaniards  before  him,  and  conquered  Pignerol  and 
Chambery — indeed  almost  the  whole  of  Saxony.  By  the 
treaty  of  Chierasco,  April,  1631,  the  French  pretender 
received  Mantua. 

These  were  small  matters.  He  had  still  to  forego  great 
enterprises,  because  he  had  neither  fleet  nor  army.  Then 
Gustavus  Adolphus  appeared  as  an  ally ;  he  hoped  to  find 
a  client  in  him  who  would  allow  him  to  pursue  his  French 
policy  in  Germany.  But  in  this  he  was  altogether  mis- 
taken, for  he  was,  in  fact,  only  permitted  to  share  expenses, 
not  to  advise  with  him,  nor  to  act  conjointly.  But  with  the 
death  of  the  Swedish  king,  this  embarrassment  was  at  an 
end.  The  traditions  of  the  past  might  still  have  some 
influence  with  the  Swedish  generals  and  statesmen ;  but 
this  was  an  obstacle  which  could  scarcely  exist  very  long 
or  be  insurmountable.* 

*  For  the  history  of  the  beginning  of  French  interference  in  the 
German  war,  the  unpublished  reports  of  the  embassy  supply  some 
particulars  which  Hiiusser  extracted  in  Paris  (B.  R.  MSS.  Fran9ais, 
No.  2249,  suppl.).  At  the  conclusion  of  a  paper  on  the  progress  of 
the  German  and  Spanish  Hapsburgs  in  1620  this  passage  occurs  :  "It 
seems  to  be  more  than  enjoined  upon  us  '  de  se  reveiller  d'une  si 
profonde  et  fatalle  lethargic  en  laquelle  la  France  est  tombee  par  la 
disastreuse  mort  de  notre  grand  roi  Henry.'  If  now  Spain  were  to 


500    THIRD  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

take  it  into  her  head  to  seek  a  quarrel  with  us,  and  to  attack  us  in  the 
rear,  as  at  the  time  of  the  League,  all  paths  would  be  closed  to  us,  and 
we  should  have  neither  troops  nor  money  from  Germany,  Switzerland, 
or  Italy,  such  as  the  late  king  could  procure  in  his  necessity, — internal 
peace  and  unity  among  all  Frenchmen,  and  dutiful  obedience  to  our 
just  and  good  king,  and  the  skilful  conduct  of  affairs  by  a  minister  who 
would  '  reprendre  les  sages  lecons  et  magnanimes  du  feu  roi  et  les  erres 
d'une  bonne  intelligence  avec  les  plus  sinceres  amys  et  anciens  allies 
de  cette  couronne  '  would  be  the  only  means  of  averting  the  evil."  A 
dispatch  of  1620  severely  blames  the  rapacity  of  Austria,  advises  an 
alliance  with  the  Protestants,  and  says  it  is  a  calumny  to  call  the  war  a 
religious  war,  the  object  of  which  on  the  Protestant  side  was  to  crush 
the  Catholics.  It  is  said  in  a  report  of  1626  that  the  war  will  not  come 
to  an  end  until  Holland,  France,  and  England  are  conquered  by  Spain 
and  Hapsburg.  On  December  24th,  1619,  Bouillon  (fol.  183)  advises 
the  king  at  least  to  mediate.  A  letter  from  the  Emperor  to  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  '  traduit  de  Pallemand  en  fra^ais,'  dated  from  Ratisbon, 
August  1 8th,  1630,  is  also  there,  in  which  the  Emperor  expresses  surprise 
at  the  hostile  attitude  of  Sweden,  and  demands  either  a  formal  declara- 
tion of  war  or  a  peaceful  understanding.  Gustavus  Adolphus  answers 
from  Stralsund,  October  3Oth,  1630,  and  expressly  reminds  him  of 
his  former  conduct  and  his  many  hostile  acts. — ED. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

GERMANY  FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS  TO 
WALLENSTEIN'S  CATASTROPHE.  NOVEMBER,  1632 — 
FEBRUARY,  1634.* 

Dissensions  in  the  Swedish  Camp  :  Oxenstierna  and  Bernhard  of 
Weimar. — Beginning  of  the  French  Negotiations  :  Marquis  dt 
Feuquieres. — The  Treaty  of  Heilbronn,  April  23rd,  1633. — 
Wallenstein's  ambiguous  conduct  of  the  war  in  1633. — Negotiations 
with  Saxony.  The  letter  of  December  26th,  1633. — The  Bond  of 
Pilsen,  January  I2th,  1634, — -The  murder  at  Eger,  February  25th, 
1634. 

OXENSTIERNA,  BERNHARD  OF  WEIMAR,  FEUQUIERES,  AND 
THE  TREATY  OF  HEILBRONN.    APRIL,  1633. 

(~*  USTAVUS  ADOLPHUS  was  general  and  diplomatist 
^-*  in  one  person.  In  this  the  greatness  of  his  character 
consisted ;  and  it  gave  a  unity  and  emphasis  to  his  far- 
seeing  and  thoughtful  policy,  of  which  his  opponents,  with 
their  far  simpler  tasks,  could  not  boast. 

On  his  death  this  unity  between  warfare  and  policy  was 
at  an  end.  There  were  two  parties  in  the  Swedish  camp, 
one  represented  by  the  Chancellor  Oxel  Oxenstierna,  the 
other  comprised  the  greater  number  of  the  superior  officers 

•  Forster,  F.,  Wallenstein's  Briefe;  Berlin,  1628.  The  same, 
Wallenstein  als  Feldherr  u.  Staatsman.  The  same,  Wallenstein's 
Piozess;  Leipzig,  1844.  Von  Aretin,  Wallenstein;  Regensburg, 
1848.  Dudik,  Forschungen,  1853.  The  same,  Wallenstein  von 
seiner  Enthebung  bis  zur  Uebernahme  des  Commando's,  1858.  Helbig, 
Wallenstein  und  Arnim,  1850.  The  same,  Kaiser  Ferdinand  u  der 
Herzog  von  Friedland,  1852.  The  same,  Gustav  Adolf  und  dei 
Kurfurst  von  Sachsen,  1854.  Hurter,  zur  Geschichte  Wallensteins, 
1855.  The  same,  Wallenstein's  vier  letzte  Lebensjahre,  1862.  Rose, 
Herzog  Bernhard  ;  Weimar,  1828.  Barthold,  F.  W.,  Geschichte  des 
giossen  deutschen  Krieges ;  Stuttgart,  1802.  Droysen,  Preuss.  Politik. 


502     THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

and  a  host  of  adventurers,  more  or  less  distinguished, 
who  had  attached  themselves  to  the  victorious  head- 
quarters. 

Oxenstierna  was  the  statesman  who,  always  keeping  in 
view  the  political  objects  of  the  war,  urged  as  speedy  a 
decision  as  possible;  then  an  acceptable  peace  might  be 
concluded,  and  he  had  no  interest  in  advarcing  the 
supremacy  of  the  generals  by  an  aimless  continuance  of  the 
war. 

They,  on  the  contrary,  wished  to  continue  it  precisely  on 
the  grounds  which  made  Oxenstierna  wish  for  peace.  They 
had  no  wish  to  lay  down  their  arms,  until  every  one  of 
them  had  secured  a  splendid  booty ;  they  were  the  mag- 
nates of  the  camp,  and  thought  it  a  singular  piece  of 
assumption  to  dictate  their  course  to  them  with  the  pen. 
Among  the  generals  there  was  but  one  on  Oxenstierna's  side ; 
this  was  Gustavus  Horn,  who  was  related  to  him,  and 
was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  pupils  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus. 

Besides  these,  there  were  in  the  camp  a  multitude  of 
German  princes  and  rulers  whom  the  war  had  driven  from 
their  countries  and  subjects,  and  who  hoped  to  make  their 
fortunes  in  soldier  fashion,  so  long  as  there  was  a  chance 
of  it.  Many  of  them  had  been  so  ill-used  by  the  house  of 
Hapsburg  that  they  longed  to  revenge  themselves  with  the 
sword.  These  younger  sons  of  younger  brothers,  as  Shak- 
speare  says,  were  continually  fomenting  war ;  they  had 
everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose ;  for  them  the  war 
would  still  have  an  aim,  until  every  one  of  them  had 
found  a  peaceful  home  again  beneath  the  shadow  of  some 
principality. 

Bernhard  of  Weimar,  who  was  far  superior  to  the  others 
in  abilities,  and  might  be  called  the  leader  of  the  German 
war  party,  was  one  of  these  emigrants.  The  youngest  of 
seven  brothers  all  living,  born  August,  1604,  he  was  left  an 
orphan  at  thirteen,  and  brought  up  by  his  eldest  brother,  John, 
to  the  profession  of  arms,  he  had  grown  up  as  a  thorough 
soldier  of  this  martial  age.  Temperate,  free  from  the 
vices  of  the  age,  not  highly  cultivated,  but  a  sincere  Pro- 
testant, and  an  amiable,  excellent  man,  he  was  indisputably 
one  of  the  best  elements  in  this  circle.  He  had  early 
shown  talent  and  aspiring  ambition ;  was  the  impersonation 
of  hatred  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg  and  the  Albertines, 


OXENSTIERNA.  503 

and,  when  the  war  broke  out,  he  and  several  of  his  brothers 
took  up  arms  as  a  matter  of  course.  With  his  brother 
William  he  entered  the  service  of  the  chivalrous  Margrave 
of  Baden,  in  the  spring  of  1622,  and  took  part  in  the 
campaign  in  the  Palatinate  and  the  unfortunate  battle  of 
Wimpfen.  After  various  vicissitudes  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  great  leading  spirit  of  the 
war,  joined  him  in  the  campaign  in  Franconia,  on  the  Rhine 
and  in  the  south,  in  which  he  greatly  distinguished  himself, 
and  to  him  especially  belonged  the  fame  of  following  up  the 
victory  to  the  upper  Lech  and  the  Tyrolean  passes.  By 
the  time  of  the  unhappy  day  of  Liitzen  he  was  already  a 
well-known  and  distinguished  general. 

He  possessed  the  art  of  attaching  the  soldiers  to  his 
person,  and  had  occasionally  ventured  to  oppose  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  The  discontent  in  the  German  element  in  the 
camp  often  found  a  spokesman  in  him,  and  this  had  given 
rise  to  his  playing  a  certain  independent  part. 

After  his  troops — 4,000  cavalry  and  8,000  infantry — had 
unanimously  chosen  him  as  leader,  he  openly  demanded  a 
German  principality — such  as  a  duchy  in  Franconia,  con- 
sisting of  the  bishoprics  of  Wurzburg,  Bamberg,  &c. ;  he 
also  thought  that  he  should  be  able  to  provide  for  himself 
in  Alsace  and  on  the  Upper  Rhine ;  at  all  events,  he  had 
very  concrete  aims  in  view  in  his  warfare  and  policy,  and 
made  no  secret  of  them. 

This  discord  explains  the  fact,  that  after  the  victory  of 
Liitzen,  which  was  decisive  in  a  military  point  of  view, 
and  perceptibly  weakened  the  Emperor  for  a  long  time, 
nothing  of  importance  was  done  by  the  victors.  The  strife 
between  the  generals  and  Oxenstierna  was  to  blame  for  it. 

No  agreement  of  any  importance  had  been  arrived  at 
when  France  began  her  negotiations.  Richelieu  sent  his 
commissioner,  Feuquieres  to  Germany  to  see  what  was  to 
be  done  now  that  the  little  Gothic  King  was  out  of  the  way. 
According  to  his  instructions  he  was  to  ofifer  the  chief  com- 
mand to  Saxony,  so  as  to  induce  it  to  unite  itself  with  the 
Catholic  States  against  the  Emperor,  to  consult  with  Oxen- 
stierna, not  to  conclude  any  peace  without  France,  and  to 
maintain  the  conditions  ot  the  Treaty  of  Barwalde  as  re- 
garded the  Catholics.  Brandenburg  and  other  states  of 
the  empire  were  to  be  treated  with,  the  Swedes  were  to  be 
won  over,  the  Chancellor  especially  was  to  be  enticed  by 


504    THIRD   PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'    WAR. 

the  prospect  of  the  marriage  of  his  son  with  the  young 
Queen  Christina,  and,  above  all,  his  consent  was  to  be 
obtained  to  the  cession  of  the  most  important  fortresses  on 
the  left  shore  of  the  Rhine  to  France.  Various  other  agents 
were  at  the  same  time  paving  the  way  for  French  interests 
in  Germany. 

But  Oxenstierna  was  not  idle  either.  Even  before  autho- 
rity came  from  Sweden,  nominating  him  legate  of  the  Crown 
in  the  Roman  empire,  and  with  all  the  armies,  he  had  pro- 
ceeded to  Central  and  North  Germany  to  promote  his 
objects — the  alliance  of  the  Protestant  States  with  Sweden, 
and  indemnification  for  the  latter.  At  Dresden  and  Berlin 
he  found  the  old  hesitation  and  want  of  decision ;  he 
hoped  to  find  more  readiness  among  the  little  states  of 
Upper  Germany,  whom  he  summoned  to  Heilbronn  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year. 

Feuquieres  came  also,  after  convincing  himself  that 
nothing  would  come  of  giving  the  command  to  Saxony. 
The  object  now  was  to  prevent  Sweden  from  taking  every- 
thing in  hand  alone.  He  had  already  received  a  repulse 
from  Oxenstierna  about  the  Rhenish  fortresses  ;  perhaps  he 
might  be  more  successful  now  at  Heilbronn,  especially  as 
Saxony  and  Brandenburg  would  be  opposed  to  the  Swedish 
supremacy.  In  fact,  the  Protestant  States  of  Upper  Ger- 
many were  not  disposed  to  enter  into  the  close  alliance 
under  the  leadership  of  Sweden  which  Oxenstierna  desired, 
and  this  offered  an  opportunity  for  the  French  commissioner 
to  step  in  as  a  mediator. 

So,  on  the  23rd  April,  1633,  the  alliance  of  the  Crown 
of  Sweden  with  the  four  upper  circles  of  the  empire  was 
formed  by  the  Treaty  of  Heilbronn.  It  was  not  precisely 
in  accordance  with  Richelieu's  wishes,  for  more  weight  was 
conceded  to  Sweden  than  he  liked ;  but  neither  did  it 
altogether  satisfy  the  Chancellor,  for  a  constlium  formatum 
was  placed  at  his  side,  in  which  ten  representatives  of  the 
States  of  the  empire  were  to  watch  the  Swedish  conduct  of 
the  war.  Before  this  a  treaty  with  France  had  been  re- 
newed, essentially  on  the  basis  of  the  Treaty  of  Barwalde. 
By  this  the  French  subsidies  were  secured,  while  Sweden 
still  maintained  the  leadership,  and  it  was  only  with  him, 
not  with  France  direct,  that  the  Upper  German  States  had 
entered  into  alliance. 

Meanwhile,  Bernhard  of  Weimar,  who  had  taken  the  com- 


BERNHARD   OF   WEIMAR.  505 

rnand  of  the  army  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  had,  by  the  end 
of  January,  advanced  into  Franconia  from  Thuringia,  oc- 
cupied the  bishopric  of  Bamberg,  and  proceeded  south- 
wards to  join  Horn  in  Upper  Swabia.  In  spite  of  the 
marauding  expeditions  of  John  of  Werth,  the  meeting  was 
effected  at  Donauvvorth  in  April.  But  here  all  advance 
was  at  an  end,  for  a  mutiny  broke  out  in  the  army,  which 
was  with  difficulty  quelled. 

Meanwhile,  Bernhard  caused  the  princes  of  the  confede- 
ration assembled  at  Heidelberg  to  grant  the  Duchy  of 
Franconia  to  him,  and  a  month  later  he  received  the  oath 
of  allegiance.  The  chief  command  of  the  federal  armies 
was,  however,  refused  him  by  Oxenstierna,  although,  as  the 
event  proved,  his  nomination  would  have  been  the  most 
suitable.  Horn,  whose  superior  he  felt  himself  to  be,  was 
placed  over  him  as  field-marshal,  and  the  army  was  only 
pacified  by  granting  its  most  urgent  demands  and  the 
promise  of  better  days. 

The  military  events  during  this  crisis  were  not  of  great 
importance,  and  the  war  only  lost  its  dilatory  character  at 
the  end  of  the  year. 

Part  of  the  conquests  on  the  Danube  had  been  lost  again 
by  the  rash  acts  of  John  of  Werth.  Bernhard  now  ad- 
vanced, crossed  the  Danube  near  Neuburg,  and  suddenly 
appeared  at  Ratisbon,  which  capitulated  in  November. 
After  several  months  of  inactivity,  Wallenstein  had  eva- 
cuated Silesia,  threatened  Brandenburg,  and  turned  again 
towards  Bohemia,  when  Bernhard  advanced  towards  the 
Austrian  territory  without  opposition  from  any  considerable 
foe. 

WALLENSTEIN'S  CATASTROPHE  ;  THE  AMBIGUOUS  CAMPAIGN 
OF  1633;  NEGOTIATIONS  AND  TREACHERY;  THE  BOND 
OF  PlLSEN j  THE  ASSASSINATION,  FEBRUARY,  1634. 

As  things  had  been  for  months  in  the  Swedish  camp,  it 
would  have  required  but  little  skill  and  energy  on  the 
Imperial  side  sorely  to  punish  the  enemy  for  its  unprotected 
state.  But  things  were  no  better  in  the  Imperial  army ;  if 
the  Swedes  did  little,  Wallenstein  did  nothing.  If  the 
relations  between  Bernhard  and  Oxenstierna  were  cool, 
those  between  the  Imperial  generals  and  the  Court  of 
Vienna  were  still  cooler.  And  this  was  mainly  the  reason 


506   THIRD   PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

that  the  war  did  not  take  an  unfortunate  turn  for  Sweden 
in  1633. 

After  the  battle  of  Lu'tzen,  Wallenstein  had  returned  to 
Bohemia,  and  had  lain  quiet  the  whole  winter.  It  was 
obvious  that  his  army  must  have  suffered  severely,  and 
therefore  that  the  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  re-constitute 
it.  He  also  considered  that  he  had  reason  to  be  dissatisfied 
with  his  generals,  as  is  proved  by  the  severe  sentences  of 
the  court-martials.  As  to  the  necessity  of  a  still  longer 
period  of  rest  for  the  re-organization  of  the  army,  Wallen- 
stein must  have  been  a  better  judge  than  they  were  at 
Vienna,  who  knew  nothing  of  war.  Besides  this  tarriance 
in  Bohemia,  this  "  natural  bastion,"  although  it  might  occa- 
sion some  losses  in  other  places,  was  easily  to  be  justified 
on  strategic  grounds.*  But  that  spring  should  pass  over  and 
nothing  be  done,  after  the  winter  had  been  passed  in  idle- 
ness, might  well  occasion  anxiety. 

While  the  population  of  the  hereditary  dominions  was 
almost  ruined  by  the  taxes  required  for  the  support  of  Wal- 
lenstein's  army, — every  official,  from  the  judge  to  the  town- 
clerk,  had  to  pay  ten  per  cent.,  there  was  a  tax  of  100 
florins  on  every  doctor's  degree,  every  patent  of  nobility, 
every  carriage,  sledge,  or  handsomely  harnessed  horse — the 
Swedes  advanced  southwards  to  Ratisbon,  and  northwards  to 
Hameln ;  still  nothing  was  heard  of  Wallenstein  but  com- 
plaints of  arrears  of  pay,  nothing  of  his  army  but  complaints 
of  their  treatment  of  the  peaceful  inhabitants.  The  general 
had  shut  himself  up  in  unapproachable  seclusion  at  Prague, 
and  admitted  no  one  but  his  own  confidants  to  his  presence 
for  weeks. 

At  length,  with  the  beginning  of  June,  he  advanced 
against  Arnim,  who  was  in  Silesia,  with  a  Saxon  army  at 
least  equal  to  his ;  but  instead  of  a  battle  taking  place,  for 
which  both  were  prepared,  an  armistice  was  concluded. 
When  this  had  expired,  Arnim  drove  Wallenstein  back 
from  Schweidnitz,  when  he  again  relapsed  into  inactivity 
for  weeks.  Meanwhile,  in  July,  the  imperial  troops  and 
those  of  the  League  under  Gronsfeld  were  together  defeated 
in  the  north,  near  Oldendorp,  in  Hesse  ;  Hameln  was  taken, 
and  in  August  in  the  south-west  a  faithful  partizan  of  the 
Emperor,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  was  overpowered  by  the 
Swedes  at  Pfaffenhofen  and  taken  prisoner. 
*  Droysen. 


WALLENSTEIN'S  TACTICS.  507 

Great  uneasiness  now  began  to  be  felt  at  Vienna;  at 
Munich  they  had  been  uneasy  for  a  long  time.  At  the 
former  the  disastrous  results  of  the  treaty  of  Znaym  were 
recognised,  at  the  latter  they  felt  the  revenge  of  mortal 
enmity.  It  is  clear  that  Wallenstein  was  glad  of  any  pre- 
text for  sacrificing  the  Elector  to  the  enemy.  When  Wal- 
lenstein's  only  crime  was  that  he  had  raised  an  army  for 
the  Emperor  which  thrust  aside  the  League,  and  restored 
Austria  to  him,  Max  of  Bavaria  had  incited  the  Emperor 
against  him  till  he  was  deposed.  This  the  Duke  never 
forgave  him.  Then  there  were  political  differences.  Wal- 
lenstein represented  the  Emperor's  military  power,  Max  the 
principalities ;  Wallenstein  hated  the  priests  and  their 
restoration  to  power,  Max  saw  no  other  object  in  the  war 
than  their  victory.  Wallenstein  beheld  the  Elector's  diffi- 
culties with  malicious  satisfaction,  and  when  through  the 
Emperor  he  earnestly  begged  Wallenstein  for  help,  instead 
of  giving  it  he  concluded  a  fresh  armistice  with  Arnim,  by 
which  it  was  expressly  forbidden  to  give  any  support  on  the 
Danube,  and  on  every  remonstrance  he  appealed  to  his 
right  to  make  war,  conclude  truces,  and  negotiate  peace 
according  to  his  pleasure. 

When  the  end  of  the  year  came,  Wallenstein's  only 
military  achievement  was  that  with  20,000  men  he  had 
compelled  5,000  Swedes,  who  had  ensconced  themselves  at 
Thurn,  in  Steinau,  to  capitulate,  thereby  freeing  Silesia  from 
the  enemy. 

But  this  enigmatical  mode  of  warfare  was  no  longer 
Wallenstein's  only  fault.  During  the  course  of  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1633  he  had  caused  negotiations  to  be 
entered  into,  second  and  third  hand,  the  object  of  which 
could  scarcely  have  only  been  to  divide  and  deceive  the 
enemy.  Discontented  Bohemian  noblemen,  such  as  Counts 
Terzky  and  Kinsky,  crafty  commissioners  like  Resina,  had, 
though  disclaiming  Wallenstein's  responsibility,  undertaken 
various  correspondence,  in  which  he  must  have  had 
some  participation,  for  the  acts  and  omissions  of  his  inex- 
plicable plan  of  warfare  are  entirely  in  accordance  with 
it ;  and  in  spite  of  Forster's  attempt  (in  three  volumes) 
to  clear  the  Duke  of  suspicion,  few  persons  will  conclude 
that  he  was  not  implicated  in  these  things. 

The  negotiations  themselves  certainly  admit  of  a  harm- 
less explanation.  Wallenstein  was  aware  of  the  discontent 


50 8   THIRD   PHASE   OF   THE   THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

between  Saxony  and  Sweden.  If,  therefore,  he  first  put 
himself  into  communication  with  Saxony,  there  was  nothing 
treacherous  in  that;  his  object  might  be  to  divide  the 
enemy.  Besides,  the  right  of  negotiating  had  undoubtedly 
been  granted  him. 

The  policy  of  the  Edict  of  Restitution  was  not  his  affair  ; 
he  wished  for  an  acceptable  peace  based  on  a  reconciliation 
between  the  creeds,  as  did  Saxony  also,  and  therefore  he 
might  well  enter  into  an  agreement  with  Arnim.  It  was 
also  as  much  the  interest  of  the  Imperialists  as  of  Saxony,  to 
expel  the  Swedes  by  one  means  or  another  from  German  soil.* 

Thus  these  things  may  be  looked  at  without  prejudice  to 
him  on  the  principle,  Quilibet  prassumitur  bonus. 

But  Walienstein  was  not  the  man  to  establish  an  honour- 
able peace  which  would  have  served  the  good  cause. 

He  was  not  given  to  truth  and  openness ;  he  was  fond  of 
mysterious  intrigues  for  their  own  sake,  apart  from  their 
purpose,  and  he  always  had  the  lofty  schemes  of  personal 
ambition  in  view  which  his  astrological  researches  pointed 
out  to  him  as  ends  to  be  easily  attained.  Even  had  the 
peace  which  he  was  projecting  been  an  honourable  one, 
which  would  better  have  served  the  great  German  cause,  for 
Max  of  Bavaria  and  the  Jesuits  of  the  Court  of  Vienna  it 
was  treason  to  everything  that  they  held  sacred. 

These  transactions  did  not  long  remain  secret.  The 
universal  dissatisfaction  with  his  mode  of  carrying  on  the 
war,  or  rather  not  carrying  it  on,  gave  reason  enough  for 
putting  the  worst  construction  upon  the  rumours  that  were 
flying  about,  and  foes  were  not  wanting  at  Vienna  and 
Munich  who  zealously  fomented  discontent  with  him,  and 
late  in  the  summer  of  1633  an  outbreak  could  be  foreseen. 
Walienstein,  therefore,  began  to  consider  his  plan  of  retreat 
before  it  should  take  place.  But  the  negotiations  were 
dragging  slowly  on  ;  Sweden  and  France  had  been  sounded  ; 
no  agreement  had  been  come  to  with  Saxony,  for  the 
unfathomable  cunning  of  the  Friecllander  excited  distrust. 

By  the  end  of  1633  the  situation  of  affairs  was  such  that 
it  was  no  longer  possible  to  think  of  honourable  negotia- 
tions or  the  danger  of  probable  complications  ;  the  compli- 
cations were  at  hand,  the  danger  was  present,  and  the 
breach  could  be  calculated  on  beforehand. 

*  Compare  the  expressions  attributed  to  him  by  Chemnitz,  II.  135, 
and  Khevenhiller,  XII.  5/8,  on  the  occasion  of  the  armistice  of  July. 


NEGOTIATIONS.  509 

When  the  idea  of  real  treason  or  open  revolt  began  to 
take  possession  of  Wallenstein's  mind,  it  is  impossible  to 
decide,  in  spite  of  all  the  materials  collected  and  published 
by  Forster,  Aretin,  Dudik,  and  Helbig.  That  he  did  not  to 
the  last  entertain  any  such  idea,  as  Forster  thinks,  is  con- 
sistent only  with  a  very  ingenious  interpretation  of  the 
documents. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  after  November  and  Decem- 
ber, 1633,  Wallenstein  was  more  and  more  convinced  that 
his  position  was  untenable,  saw  that  his  influence  at  Vienna 
was  coming  to  an  end,  and  that  his  enemies  there  would 
again  succeed  in  compassing  his  fall.  He  did  not  choose 
to  be  surprised  by  it ;  it  could  but  cast  him  down  lower  than 
before,  for  he  stood  higher  than  even  the  Emperor  himself, 
and  he  would  probably  not  be  in  a  position  to  retire  as  a 
misunderstood  magnate  to  his  estates. 

He  therefore  preferred  to  come  to  some  agreement  with 
Sweden,  Saxony,  and  France,  which  should  compel  the 
Emperor,  on  the  basis  of  the  religious  peace  and  the 
amnesty,  to  lay  down  his  arms,  and  to  acknowledge  him 
as  King  of  Bohemia,  and  which  should  at  the  same  time 
enable  him  to  slake  his  revenge  on  the  Elector  of  Bavaria. 
It  was  in  this  spirit  that  Terzky  and  Kinsky  negotiated, 
and  during  the  last  few  weeks  of  the  year  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  frustrate  any  attempts  at  justification. 

The  Elector  of  Saxony  felt  the  approach  of  the  crisis, 
and  began  to  treat  more  seriously  than  before,  but  was 
desirous  of  discovering  whether  he  could  trust  Wallenstein. 

Various  negotiations  went  on  in  December,  which  were 
intended  to  clear  the  ground.  There  is  a  letter  of  Count 
Terzky  to  Kinsky,  under  date  of  December  26th,  in  which 
he  says,  "  that  he  is  to  send  passes  to  the  Duke  Francis 
Albert  of  Saxe-Lauenburg — who  was  going  to  and  fro 
between  the  camps — to  enable  him  to  go  to  Bohemia,  that 
they  may  make  terms  with  him — he  was  treating  in  the 
name  of  Saxony — '  for  the  Duke  is  resolved  to  enter  into  an 
agreement  not  only  with  the  Electors  of  Saxony  and  Bran- 
denburg, but  also  with  Sweden  and  France.  We  shall  not 
need  the  French  army,  but  we  shall  need  their  money. 
The  master  will  therefore  soon  come.  We  are  preparing 
to  unite  our  armies  in  fourteen  days,  and  to  lay  aside  the 
mask.' " 

About  this  time  also  the  Elector  of  Saxony  sent  over  his 


510  THIRD  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

personal  friend,  Colonel  Schlieffen,  that  the  above-men- 
tioned agreement  might  be  discussed.  The  despatches 
among  the  Dresden  archives  have  been  made  known.  The 
contents  bear  the  most  obvious  marks  of  internal  proba- 
bility. Wallenstein  says,  among  other  things,  "  Spain  is 
trying  to  establish  a  world-wide  dominion  :  that  he  would 
not  permit.  Neither  was  the  King  of  France  to  be  per- 
mitted to  cross  the  Rhine.  The  Palatinate  must  be 
restored,  and  France  settled  with  somehow.  He  would 
himself  drive  the  Spaniards  from  Flanders  and  Artois. 
There  would  be  no  great  difficulty  with  Sweden,  if  she  were 
indemnified  on  the  North  Sea.  The  Electors  and  bishops 
must  have  their  bishoprics  again.  To  the  Duke  of  Weimar 
something  in  Alsace  may  be  given,  or  in  Bavaria,  the 
'  Elector  of  which,'  remarks  the  ambassador,  '  the  Duke 
intends  entirely  to  annihilate.'" 

A  few  days  afterwards  the  Elector  sent  another  ambassa- 
dor, and  Wallenstein  declared  that  he  had  nothing  to  add 
to  what  had  been  stated  to  Colonel  Schlieffen. 

Wallenstein  wished,  in  possession  of  all  the  forces  of  the 
defenceless  Emperor,  to  extort  a  peace  which  would  em- 
power him  to  settle  with  France  and  Sweden,  to  annihilate 
Bavaria,  and  to  effect  a  reconcilation  with  the  Protestants. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  despatch  as  to  what  he  proposed 
for  himself.  Bohemia  is  not  mentioned,  but  it  is  highly 
probable  that  he  had  no  intention  of  "  leaving  this  country 
to  the  empire,"  like  the  Tyrol,  but  that  he  had  selected  it 
as  his  own  price  for  the  peace.  But,  of  course,  he  would 
not  say  so  to  the  Saxon  ambassador. 

The  object,  therefore,  was,  in  defiance  of  the  League  and 
the  Edict  of  Restitution,  to  conclude  a  peace  with  the 
Emperor,  which,  to  a  certain  extent,  coincided  with  Riche- 
lieu's plans,  and  which  might  reckon  on  popularity  in 
Germany  itself. 

The  distracted  nation  was  thoroughly  tired  of  the  war, 
which  had  nearly  lost  all  significance,  and  this  peace  would 
have  a  reasonable  basis  in  the  restoration  of  the  exiles  and 
the  toleration  of  Protestantism,  which  would  give  Wallen- 
stein the  support  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Germans. 
He  certainly  would  have  all  the  Protestants  on  his  side, 
and  probably  all  the  Catholics,  who  were  convinced  of  the 
impossibility  of  carrying  out  the  Edict  of  Restitution. 

But  it  was  decidedly  not  an  imperial  policy,  and  it  was 


THE  BOND   OF   PILSEN.  511 

obvious  that  the  Court  of  Vienna  would  endeavour  to  wrest 
the  army  which  should  protect  Austria  from  such  hands. 

But  this  was  no  easy  matter.  The  army  was  so  com- 
pletely in  Wallenstein's  power  that  it  was  doubtful  whether 
he  could  be  got  rid  of  without  inciting  it  to  rebellion.  Still, 
he  had  offended  many  of  the  generals,  and  made  irrecon- 
cilable enemies  of  them.  He  was  fond  of  boasting  that  he 
had  thrust  aside  the  Spaniards,  Italians,  and  Walloons  in 
favour  of  the  Germans,  so  they  would  soonest  fall  away.  A 
number  of  duels  afterwards  took  place  between  them  and 
the  Germans,  and  the  Germans  have  never  been  persuaded 
that  the  Italians  were  not  his  assassins.* 

It  is  some  mitigation  of  the  guilt  of  the  horrible  deed, 
that  at  Vienna, — itself  in  the  greatest  peril, — there  was 
really  no  power  after  the  Treaty  of  Znaym  to  separate 
the  man  from  his  army.  The  only  thing  that  could  be 
done  was  to  divide  the  army,  and  then  employ  some  sub- 
ordinate instrument. 

About  the  middle  of  January,  1634,  Wallenstein  took  a 
step  at  Pilsen  which  proved  to  the  Emperor  that  the 
moment  for  action  was  come.  The  Emperor  had  desired 
him  to  set  apart  6,000  men  for  the  support  of  the  Cardinal 
Infanto  of  Spain,  who  was  coming  to  the  aid  of  Hapsburg, 
and  to  set  out  to  re-conquer  Ratisbon.  Wallenstein  would 
do  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  and  secured  the  like  dis- 
obedience from  the  officers.  On  the  nth  of  January  they 
were  summoned  to  Pilsen.  Wallenstein  communicated  to 
them  through  his  confidants,  that  under  such  circum- 
stances he  should  be  compelled  to  lay  down  the  command, 
and  asked  what  they,  who  were  enlisted  on  his  credit, 
thought  of  it.  The  officers  begged  him  to  retain  it  as  a 
personal  favour  to  them.  Twice  he  declined,  but  finally 
informed  them  through  Illo,  that  on  one  condition  he  would 
alter  his  resolution,  namely,  that  they  should  swear  to  hold 
by  him,  and  not  swerve  from  their  allegiance.  To  this  they 
all  consented,  and  then  Illo  produced  the  well-known  Bond, 
in  which  the  following  was  the  chief  clause :  t — "  Seeing 
what  distress,  misery,  and  ruin  would  result  to  them  and 

*  Hurter  in  Wallenstein's  letzen  Lebensjahre,  p.  377,  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  his  bitterest  enemies,  Aldringen,  Maradas,  Suys, 
Hatzfeld,  Colloredo,  Wangler,  were  not  Italians,  and  that  the  most 
distinguished  among  the  Italians,  Gallas  and  Piccolomini,  remained 
faithful  to  him  the  longest. 

t  Authenticated  by  Aretin.     Urkunde,  31. 


512   THIRD   PHASE  OF   THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

their  poor  soldiers  from  the  Duke's  retirement,  they  earnestly 
entreated  his  highness  not  to  allow  any  weight  to  the  mo- 
tives for  it ;  not  to  forsake  the  army  without  their  know- 
ledge and  consent,  in  consideration  of  which  they  take  an 
oath  to  stand  faithfully  by  your  highness;  not  to  forsake 
you,  to  do  all  that  tends  to  the  preservation  of  yourself  and 
the  army ;  to  shed  our  last  drop  of  blood  for  this  cause ; 
to  regard  every  one  who  acts  inimically  to  it  as  a  faithless 
and  perjured  person,  on  whose  possessions,  person,  and 
life  we  are  bound  to  take  revenge."  Whether  the  limitation 
clause,  "  without  prejudice  to  allegiance  to  the  Emperor," 
was  used  in  reading  it,  we  do  not  know ;  it  is  certain  that 
it  was  not  inserted  in  the  document  presented  for  signature. 
It  was  signed  by  forty-two  persons,  and  the  new  oath  was 
celebrated  by  a  great  banquet  on  the  i2th  of  January. 

Wallenstein  continued  to  write  the  most  affectionate 
letters  to  the  Emperor,  and  received  the  most  affectionate 
letters  from  Vienna.  Each  tries  to  deceive  the  other,  for 
each  feels  that  the  time  was  come  for  decisive  action. 
Information  now  came  from  Vienna  to  the  foreign  elements 
of  the  army  that  well-founded  suspicions  were  entertained 
against  Wallenstein  ;  it  was  their  duty  to  keep  the  army  for 
the  Emperor.  Gallas  came  with  an  imperial  patent,  which 
released  "all  honourable  officers,  cavaliers,  and  soldiers 
from  obedience  to  Wallenstein  and  his  creatures  Illo  and 
Terzky,  and  placed  them  under  the  command  of  Gallas. 
The  document  was  first  of  all  circulated  confidentially,  and, 
when  most  of  the  regiments  were  secured,  publicly  pro- 
claimed on  the  22nd  of  February  with  beating  of  drums  at 
Prague. 

Wallenstein  had  been  losing  precious  time  in  astrology 
and  scribbling.  When  the  mysterious  messages  became 
more  and  more  urgent  and  more  and  more  gloomy,  he 
issued  his  commands,  but  they  were  little  or  not  at  all 
obeyed,  and  on  the  23rd  of  February  he  left  Pilsen.  On 
the  evening  of  the  24th  he  met  the  remnant  of  his  faithful 
followers,  from  five  to  six  thousand  men,  at  Eger.  In  the 
evening  there  was  a  noisy  banquet ;  when  the  wine  had  had 
its  effect,  Butler's  dragoons  fell  upon  Kinsky  and  Terzky, 
and  cut  them  down  amidst  cries  of  "  Long  live  Ferdinand  !  " 
Soon  afterwards,  Wallenstein  himself,  who  had  just  been 
again  reading  the  stars  with  his  astrologer,  was  struck  down 
in  his  bedchamber. 


ASSASSINATION   OF   WALLENSTEIN.  513 

No  definite  orders  had  been  given  at  Vienna ;  the 
instructions  had  only  been  to  secure  the  Duke,  dead  or 
alive.  It  appears  that  the  accomplishment  of  the  rightly 
interpreted  command  was  intrusted  to  subordinates,  foreign 
adventurers,  such  as  Butler  and  Deveroux.  It  will  never  be 
known  whose  hand  struck  the  blow.* 

The  horrible  manner  in  which  Wallenstein  was  slaugh- 
tered makes  the  impression  of  an  execution  of  the  victim 
of  an  abominable  intrigue.  This  was  the  opinion  of 
the  contemporary  world,  who  compared  the  tragic  end  of 
the  man  with  his  former  greatness,  and  the  Court  of  Vienna 
did  all  it  could  to  support  this  view,  for  the  murderers 
afterwards  became  inconvenient  to  it  at  Vienna.  They 
were  rewarded,  and  then  a  justification  of  the  murder  was 
drawn  up,  as  the  most  convenient  mode  of  getting  rid  of 
the  traitor.  The  Duke  was  murdered  "  because  the  dead 
cannot  bite,"  and  the  Emperor  allowed  it  all  to  be  put  down 
to  his  account.  He  even  afterwards  had  a  sort  of  official 
justification  published,  entitled,  "  Perduellionis  chaos,"  in 
which  the  proofs  adduced  are  so  insufficient  and  so  badly 
put  together  that  it  is  impossible  to  help  thinking  that  the 
Court  really  had  no  conclusive  reasons  for  it. 

That  they  had  no  documentary  proof  against  Wallenstein 
at  Vienna  does  not  prove  his  innocence  ;  and  time  has 
brought  evidence  of  his  guilt  to  light,  and  proved  that  the 
Court  of  Vienna  was  justified  if  it  was  morally  convinced 
that  Wallenstein  was  in  its  sense  a  traitor. 

*  In  one  of  the  archives  of  the  war  at  Vienna,  in  a  petition  to  the 
King  of  Hungary,  Deveroux  is  said  to  have  confessed  to  having  been 
the  man  who  conducted  the  halberdiers  to  Wallenstein's  chamber. — 
Hurter,  p.  437. 


L  L 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

THE  WAR   FROM  THE   BATTLE   OF  NORDLINGEN,    1634,  TO 
BERNHARD'S  DEATH,   1639. 

Defeat  of  the  Swedish  army  at  Nordlingen. — Oxenstierna's  fruitless 
negotiations. — The  peace  of  Prague,  1635. — Its  significance  and 
results. — Baner's  victories  and  vicissitudes,  1636-7. — Victories  and 
death  of  Bernhard  of  Weimar,  1638-9. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  NORDLINGEN;  DEFEAT  OF  THE  SWEDISH 
ARMY. 

'"'PHESE  events  explain  the  inactivity  with  which  the  war 
-*-  dragged  on  in  1633  and  the  first  half  of  1634.  The 
Swedes  were  lamed  by  want  of  unity  amongst  their  leaders, 
the  Imperialists  by  Wallenstein's  treachery  and  catastrophe. 
But  the  second  half  of  1634  brought  a  change.  The 
Imperial  leaders,  chiefly  by  the  help  of  the  divisions  in  the 
Swedish  camp,  gained  a  decisive  victory  in  September,  which 
caused  the  misfortunes  of  1631  and  1632  to  be  forgotten  ; 
and  now  Richelieu  secured  the  command  which  for  four 
years  had  been  persistently  refused  him.  The  affairs  of 
Sweden  and  Germany  are  henceforth  indissolubly  connected 
with  French  policy. 

The  first  half  of  the  new  year  brought  with  it  no  decisive 
military  events ;  a  certain  confusion,  which  is  quite  intelli- 
gible, had  crept  into  the  imperial  camp,  and  that  the  enemy 
did  not  take  better  advantage  of  this  was  caused  by  their 
own  want  of  unity,  particularly  by  dissensions  between 
Bernhard  and  Horn,  Oxenstierna's  son-in-law.  The  Impe- 
rialists gained  some  isolated  victories  in  Bavaria,  but  in 
lower  Germany  they  lost  Hildesheim  ;  in  the  south,  Philipps- 
burg  was  obliged  to  capitulate,  and  the  army  of  Lorraine 
suffered  a  fresh  defeat,  which  resulted  in  the  expulsion  of 
the  house.  The  French  had  not  only  gained  a  firm  footing 


•SVALLENSTEIN'S   ARMY.  515 

here,  but  also  on  the  Rhine,  and  had  taken  possession  of 
some  fortresses  in  Alsace  which  Andre  had  conquered.  The 
French  had  obviously  gained  in  territory. 

Oxenstierna  had  meanwhile  been  extremely  active.  Full 
of  anxiety  on  account  of  Bernhard's  efforts  to  assert  his 
independence,  the  growing  assumption  of  the  French,  and 
the  ambiguous  conduct  of  the  Saxons,  on  the  6th  of  February 
he  convened  a  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  the  districts 
of  lower  and  central  Germany,  and  sought  to  gain  acces- 
sions for  the  League  of  Heilbronn.  His  endeavours  were 
fruitless,  and  at  Frankfort,  where  the  representatives  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Germany  met  in  April,  it  was  no  better. 
Feuquieres  had  gained  adherents  in  the  south  partly  by 
means  of  money.  The  votes  were  not  in  favour  of  the 
Swedish  command.  Brandenburg,  though  not  against  the 
League  in  itself,  became  excited  when  there  was  a  talk  of 
indemnifying  Sweden  by  Pomerania,  which  was  quite  intel- 
ligible ;  and  Saxony  openly  opposed  the  League  of  Heil- 
bronn. So  there  was  no  prospect  of  success  for  the  Swedish 
proposition ;  but  neither  did  France  attain  her  wishes. 
She  demanded  that  Philippsburg  should  be  given  up  under 
a  solemn  promise  to  restore  it  without  any  other  "  reward 
or  indemnity,"  "  que  1'honneur  de  vous  avoir  assiste  avec  la 
sincerite  et  genereuse  conduite  qui  accompagnent  toutes 
les  actions  royales."  The  states  of  Upper  Germany  were 
disposed  to  accede,  but  Saxony  put  a  veto  on  it,  and  there 
it  ended.  Thus  the  meeting  was  fruitless,  and  presented 
the  unedifying  spectacle  of  selfish  action  without  unity,  or 
any  more  lofty  views.  It  was  unmistakable  that  the 
interests  of  Swedish  and  French  command  were  in  almost 
open  hostility.  Meanwhile  the  imperial  army,  25,000 
strong,  had  reached  the  upper  Palatinate. 

It  is  a  proof  of  the  excellence  of  the  organization  of 
Wallenstein's  army,  that  although  intended  for  totally  dif- 
ferent political  objects,  it  now  permitted  itself  to  be  employed 
in  accordance  with  the  Emperor's  views,  and  that  it  was  so 
efficient  under  far  inferior  leaders.  Those  who  replaced 
Wallenstein  were  not  likely  to  cause  his  loss  to  be  forgotten. 
Neither  Gallas  nor  Ferdinand's  son,  the  King  of  Rome,  an 
inexperienced  youth,  were  likely  to  do  so  ;  yet  by  the  end 
of  six  months  the  army  was  not  only  in  an  efficient  state, 
but  for  the  first  time  since  1630  gained  a  decisive  victory, 
which  not  only  completely  changed  the  aspect  of  the 


51 6   THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE   THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

military  situation,  but  produced  perceptible  political  results 
during  the  rest  of  the  war. 

After  the  end  of  May  the  imperial  army  directed  its 
steps  from  the  Upper  Palatinate  towards  Ratisbon.  The 
Swedish  troops,  diminished  as  they  were,  were  divided  into 
two  armies.  Horn  was  on  the  Lake  of  Constance,  to  pre- 
vent the  advance  of  the  Cardinal  Infanto,  who  was  coming 
by  tedious  marches  from  Lombardy,  and  Bernhard  was  try- 
ing to  protect  Ratisbon.  They  were  on  very  bad  terms  ; 
each  cast  reproaches  on  the  other,  and  they  did  not  unite 
their  troops  till  the  i2th  of  July.  By  this  time  they  had 
2  2,000  men  assembled  near  Augsburg  ;  it  was  too  late.  They 
did  indeed  take  Landshut  by  storm  on  the  22nd  of  July,  but 
when  they  slowly  advanced  thence,  Ratisbon  had  already 
fallen,  after  a  brave  resistance,  on  the  26th,  and  they  had  to 
retreat  to  Augsburg.  At  the  same  time  Baner  and  the 
Saxons  in  Bohemia  were  advancing  successfully,  Hildes- 
heim  in  nether  Saxony  had  fallen,  but  the  great  danger  was 
that  the  Cardinal  Infanto  would  join  the  Imperial  army,  and 
then  all  South  Germany  would  be  lost. 

Bernhard  and  Horn  had  at  first  separated,  then  united 
again  near  Giinzberg ;  but  their  armies,  consisting  of 
scarcely  10,000  efficient  men,  exhausted  and  famished, 
were  in  a  pitiful  condition.  Bernhard  wrote  to  Oxenstierna 
that  "  as  the  enemy  gave  him  no  rest  to  recover  himself, 
the  chancellor  must  find  another  army  to  meet  the  enemy." 

Meanwhile  the  imperial  army,  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards,  after  taking  Donauworth,  had  turned  towards 
Nordlingen.  In  order  to  save  Wiirtemberg,  Bernhard  and 
Horn  crossed  the  Danube  near  Leipheim  and  Giinzberg, 
encamped  themselves  securely  near  Bopfingen,  and  sent 
reinforcements  to  Nordlingen ;  but  they  could  not  prevent 
the  enemy's  cavalry  from  devastating  Franconia  and  Swabia. 
The  situation  of  the  Swedes  appeared  so  hopeless  that,  on 
the  26th  of  August,  Oxenstierna  signed  a  treaty  with  Feu- 
quieres  by  which  Philippsburg  was  given  over  to  the  French, 
to  be  garrisoned  by  French  and  German  troops  as  a  pledge 
to  be  restored  in  time  of  peace.  Even  with  the  promise  J 
French  help,  there  was  but  small  prospect  of  success,  for 
the  Cardinal  Infanto  had  brought  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
thousand  men  to  his  cousin,  and  the  imperial  army,  con- 
sisting of  Spaniards,  Italians,  Germans,  &c.,  was  standing 
thirty  thousand  strong  before  Nordlingen. 


BATTLE   OF  NORDLINGEN.  517 

The  troops  of  Bemhard  and  Horn  did  not  amount  to 
more  than  24,000  men.  Bernhard  advised  to  give  battle, 
Horn  to  wait  for  the  reinforcements.  On  the  5th  of  Sep- 
tember they  approached  the  town,  and  by  a  successful 
surprise  of  the  enemy  obtained  a  good  position;  but  all 
attempts  on  the  6th  to  drive  the  enemy  from  theirs  were  in 
vain.  The  loss  was  so  great  and  the  prospect  of  success  so 
small,  that  about  noon  Bernhard  advised  to  discontinue  the 
battle ;  but  the  enemy  divined  their  purpose,  and  pursued 
them  so  hotly  that  the  retreat  became  a  desperate  flight. 
Bernhard  escaped  with  difficulty  in  the  tumult,  and  Horn 
was  taken  prisoner.  The  loss  was  reckoned  at  12,000 
dead  and  6,000  prisoners.  The  might  of  the  army  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus  was  destroyed.  Swabia  was  now 
defenceless ;  the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg  and  his  troops  fled  ; 
Bernhard  attempted  to  dam  the  stream,  but  it  was  no  longer 
possible.  By  the  middle  of  September  the  wild  hordes  of 
cavalry  rushed  on,  took  Goppingen  and  Heilbronn,  and 
made  sad  havoc  in  Waiblingen,  the  vale  of  Weinsberg,  and 
all  unprotected  places.  Thus  the  supremacy  of  the  Imperial 
arms  was  established  for  three  years  and  a  half,  and  an 
ardent  desire  of  Richelieu  fulfilled. 

Sweden's  political  position  experienced  the  same  fate  as 
her  military  force.  The  meeting  at  Frankfort  broke  up 
abruptly.  Oxenstierna  tried  in  vain  to  infuse  some  courage 
into  the  leaders,  and  to  induce  them  to  collect  their  scattered 
forces  and  to  unite  with  the  troops  from  Bohemia. 

The  troops  sent  from  the  north  to  join  the  remnant  of 
Bernhard's  army  at  Frankfort  were  an  undisciplined  set,  a 
scourge  to  the  population,  a  torment  to  the  officers,  and 
little  adapted  to  promote  success.  Baner,  however,  in 
Bohemia,  did  not  go  southwards  but  northwards,  in  order 
at  all  events  to  maintain  that  part  of  Germany.  Even 
Oxenstierna  now  urgently  solicited  French  help.  In  Oc- 
tober, two  commissioners,  LofBer  and  Streiff,  were  sent 
to  Paris,  in  order  to  settle  with  France,  even,  as  their  in- 
structions expressly  stated,  at  the  price  of  the  cession  of 
Alsace. 

Meanwhile,  before  the  end  of  the  year,  nearly  all  Fran- 
conia  was  occupied  by  the  Imperialists,  and  all  the  country  as 
far  as  Swabia  and  the  Upper  Rhine  was  the  scene  of  horrible 
barbarities.  Calw,  in  Wurtemberg,  was  almost  annihilated. 
On  the  7th  of  October  Philippsburg  was  given  up  to  the 


5l8    THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

French,  and  a  few  days  later  the  dying  Count  Otto  Ludwig 
ceded  to  them  the  fortresses  in  Upper  Alsace. 

Meanwhile,  Loftier  and  Streiff  arrived  at  Paris.  Richelieu 
was  well  pleased  to  make  considerable  conquests  without 
sacrifice  or  war,  and  was  not  disposed  to  leave  this  pleasant 
path  without  occasion.  The  offers  of  the  German  ambas- 
sadors had  meanwhile  been  forestalled  by  the  course  of 
events,  and  this  they  were  disdainfully  made  to  feel  at 
Paris.  There  was  no  inclination  to  give  either  pecuniary  or 
military  aid;  so  on  the  ist  of  November  they  were  com- 
pelled to  agree  to  an  ignominious  treaty  which  only  gave 
conditional  promise  of  French  help,  but  definitely  ceded 
important  pledges  to  France.  In  return  for  a  place  in  the 
sittings  of  the  Confederation,  participation  in  the  conduct 
of  the  war,  the  fortresses  and  Alsace,  nothing  was  granted 
but  an  engagement  to  support  12,000  men,  either  Germans 
or  troops  of  some  other  nation,  to  be  commanded  by  a 
prince  belonging  to  the  German  Confederation,  and  a 
payment  once  for  all  of  500,000  livres. 

At  Worms,  where  a  number  of  the  States  of  the  Empire 
had  assembled  around  Oxenstierna,  they  were  willing  to 
agree  to  it,  being  utterly  powerless,  and  having  nothing  more 
to  lose.  But  Oxenstierna  would  not  sign,  and  sent  Hugo 
Grotius  to  Paris  to  negotiate  on  some  other  basis.  Mean- 
while Heidelberg,  which  had  been  so  repeatedly  threatened, 
was  relieved  with  the  aid  of  the  French  troops  who  were 
summoned  across  the  Rhine,  and  thus  for  the  first  time 
French  arms  were  openly  employed  against  the  Emperor. 
Up  to  this  time  a  secret  game  had  been  played ;  France  had 
been  carrying  on  war  without  declaring  it. 

THE  PEACE  OF  PRAGUE,  30111  OF  MAY,  1635. 

The  defeat  at  Nordlingen  had  thrust  down  the  Swedish 
army  and  policy  from  the  commanding  position  which 
Gustavus  Adolphus  had  acquired  for  them ;  the  army,  not 
only  because  it  had  for  the  first  time  lost  a  great  battle  after 
being  considered,  and  having  really  been  for  four  years 
invincible,  but  still  more  because  the  original  character  of 
the  army,  already  greatly  changed,  was  now  entirely  lost. 
Some  gaps  had  been  made  in  the  old  Swedish  army  with 
its  national  and  religious  stamp,  even  under  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  but  they  were  well  filled  up  with  material  which, 


THE  PEACE   OF   PRAGUE.  519 

though  serviceable  in  a  military  point  of  view,  had  con- 
siderably changed  the  character  of  the  army.  After  this 
great  defeat  they  could  not  afford  to  be  nice  in  the  choice 
of  material,  and  had  to  put  up  with  a  homeless  rabble  of 
fugitives  and  deserters,  whose  lawlessness  soon  made  the 
Swedish  army  equal  to,  if  not  worse  than,  others  in  wicked- 
ness. Even  the  first  corps  which  Oxenstierna  collected  at 
Frankfort  in  order,  in  case  of  need,  to  oppose  the  advancing 
Imperialists,  showed  what  miserable  creatures  they  were 
getting  together.  To  keep  them  from  open  mutiny  he  had 
to  extort  100,000  florins  from  the  free  city,  and,  to  rid  it  of 
their  wild  doings,  Bernhard  was  obliged  to  lead  them  across 
the  Rhine,  their  track  being  everywhere  marked  by  bound- 
less excesses. 

The  Swedish  policy  in  the  German  war  did  not  recover 
from  the  defeat  at  Nordlingen.  Sweden  immediately  lost 
her  most  important  allies  in  the  camp  of  the  German 
princes.  At  a  time  of  great  distress,  when  both  enemies 
were  already  in  the  country,  Saxony  had  been  pressed  into 
alliance  with  Sweden  ;  but  the  Saxon  court,  full  of  mistrust 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  had  constantly  chafed  against  the 
alliance,  and  only  joined  in  the  war  by  halves  for  the  sake  of 
appearances.  When  his  military  successes  were  at  their 
height,  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  left  the  march  through 
Bohemia  to  Vienna  to  the  Saxons,  because  he  wished  to 
compel  them  to  open  enmity  with  the  Emperor,  and  feared, 
in  case  of  non-success  on  his  part,  to  see  them  immediately 
rejoin  the  Hapsburg  party.  If  this  was  the  position  of 
affairs  when  the  Swedish  arms  were  at  the  height  of  their 
fame  and  under  the  impression  of  the  victory  of  Breiten- 
feld,  it  was  clear  that  now,  after  the  defeat  of  Nordlingen, 
nothing  would  outweigh  the  imperial  influence  in  Saxony. 
The  6th  of  September  was  the  signal  for  a  treaty  between 
the  Saxon  Court  and  the  Emperor.  It  also  involved  a 
change  in  the  relations  between  Sweden  and  France. 

Richelieu  had  laboured  unceasingly  to  gain  an  influence 
in  the  German  difficulties  ;  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  accepted 
his  subsidies,  but  absolutely  forbidden  any  interference  with 
his  plans.  After  the  King's  death,  Oxenstierna  had  hoped 
to  keep  the  French  co-operation  within  the  same  limits,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  he  succeeded.  But  after  the  defeat  of 
Nordlingen  all  this  was  changed.  Richelieu  was  no  longer 
a  burdensome  interloper  to  be  outwitted,  but  a  desired  ally 


520    THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

for  a  little  help  from  whom,  great  sacrifices  must  be 
made. 

In  short,  the  battle  destroyed  the  Swedish  army,  ripened 
the  long-cherished  ideas  of  the  two  North  German  Electors 
of  entering  into  separate  treaties  with  the  Emperor,  and 
brought  about  a  closer  approach  between  Sweden  and 
France,  in  that  they  now  assumed  the  conduct  of  the 
German  war  on  terms  of  equality. 

Meanwhile,  the  military  events  of  the  first  part  of  1635 
showed  the  superiority  of  the  imperial  and  the  inefficiency 
of  the  Swedish-French  arms.  In  January  the  Imperialists 
took  Philippsburg  from  the  French  by  a  successful  surprise ; 
John  of  Werth  also  succeeded  in  surprising  Spire ;  and  in 
March  the  Spaniards  took  Treves,  and  carried  off  the  Elector 
as  a  prisoner. 

These  misfortunes,  however,  only  disturbed  Richelieu's 
diplomacy  on  the  surface  ;  he  quietly  pursued  his  way.  It 
was  his  perpetual  aim  to  deprive  the  Swedes  of  the  com- 
mand, to  form  a  French  party  among  the  German  princes, 
and  by  means  of  subsidies  to  attach  the  Duke  of  Weimar  to 
his  interests.  The  progress  of  Spain  finally  led  in  this  case 
also,  to  a  breach  in  this  unnatural  alliance. 

On  the  8th  of  February,  Richelieu  had  concluded  a 
treaty  with  Holland  against  Spain,  and  in  May  followed  the 
declaration  of  war. 

A  few  days  after,  the  Peace  of  Prague  *  between  Saxony 
and  the  Emperor  was  signed ;  the  conditions  had  been 
previously  discussed  on  the  24th  of  November  at  Pirna. 

The  affair  did  not  do  much  honour  to  the  diplomacy  of 
Electoral  Saxony.  At  first  the  Elector  made  large  demands, 
and  then  allowed  himself  to  be  miserably  intimidated  at 
Pirna.  He  then  held  fast  to  the  Pirna  preliminaries  in  a 
lump,  and  disregarded  all  the  remonstrances  of  the  Pro- 
testants ;  but  when  the  Imperialists  proposed  a  number  of 
alterations  he  immediately  agreed  to  them. 

From  the  narrow-minded  Lutheranism  which  prevailed 
at  this  court,  no  religious  peace  could  be  expected  which 
would  include  the  Reformed  party.  The  opinions  held 
here  were  those  of  the  court  theologian,  Hohenegg,  who 
said,  "  For  it  is  as  plain  as  that  the  sun  shines  at  mid- 
day, that  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  is  full  of  frightful  blas- 

*  Helbig,  der  Prager  Friede.  Compare  with  Rommel,  G-esch.  v. 
Hessen,  viii,  366.  Droysen,  iii.  132,  with  Barthold. 


THE  PEACE  OF  PRAGUE.  52! 

phemy,  horrible  error  and  mischief,  and  is  diametrically 
opposed  to  God's  holy  revealed  word.  To  take  up  arms 
for  the  Calvinists  is  nothing  else  than  to  serve  under  the 
originator  of  Calvinism — the  devil.  We  ought,  indeed,  to 
give  our  lives  for  our  brethren ;  but  the  Calvinists  are  not 
our  brethren  in  Christ  ;  to  support  them  would  be  to  offer 
ourselves  and  our  children  to  Moloch.  We  ought  to  love 
our  enemies,  but  the  Calvinists  are  not  our  enemies,  but 
God's." 

The  Treaty  of  Passau  and  the  religious  peace  of  Augs- 
burg were,  in  a  general  way,  confirmed  ;  but  all  who  did 
not  accept  the  treaty  were  excluded,  and  the  subjects  of 
Austria,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Palatinate,  and  the  members 
of  the  council  of  the  confederation,  were  excepted  from 
the  amnesty.  The  amnesty  itself,  like  everything  that 
concerned  ecclesiastical  affairs  and  the  fate  of  the  bishop- 
rics, was  full  of  side-doors  and  purposely  designed  loop- 
holes, so  that  a  Jesuit  of  Cologne  could  write  to  a  fellow  of 
his  order  who  was  uneasy  about  it,  "  The  Elector  will 
lose  his  reputation  by  the  treaty,  and  the  allies  will  be 
divided  by  taking  the  bait ;  everything  will  be  well  guarded 
by  clauses,  and  the  concessions  will  only  be  apparent. 
('  Latet  ubique  anguis  in  herba,  nihil  concessum,  nihil  con- 
clusum,  quod  a  nostris  non  fuerit  ponderatum  et  in  recessu 
aliquid  habeat.') " 

A  subversion  of  the  imperial  constitution,  also,  was  in- 
volved in  the  Treaty  of  Prague.  All  unions  and  alliances 
were  by  it  declared  to  be  at  an  end,  except  the  electoral 
union,  the  hereditary  unions  of  the  house  of  Austria  and 
the  hereditary  fraternity  between  Saxony,  Hesse,  and  Bran- 
denburg ;  the  ancient  right,  therefore,  of  the  princes  to 
conclude  treaties  was  abolished.  To  this  was  added  the 
regulation,  that  for  the  future  there  should  be  only  one 
army  in  the  empire,  to  be  headed  by  the  Emperor,  not  only 
as  the  chief,  but  sole  commander.  Finally,  it  was  decreed 
that  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  should  be  re-instated,  which 
meant  that  Saxony,  who  desired  peace  at  the  sacrifice  of  all 
her  allies,  should  be  involved  in  a  war  with  France,  and 
that  in  the  interests  of  Austria. 

Brandenburg,  which,  after  long  vacillation,  finally  sub- 
mitted to  the  Emperor,  soon  experienced  what  was  meant 
by  the  imperial  military  supremacy.  The  Elector  was  no 
longer  master  of  his  own  country ;  his  own  officers,  under 


522    THIRD   PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

oath  to  the  Emperor  as  well  as  to  himself,  established  an 
anarchical  military  rule  of  the  worst  kind. 

One  thing,  however,  was  noteworthy  in  this  peace.  The 
Emperor,  Ferdinand  II.,  in  all  essential  points,  with 
very  little  exception,  gave  up  the  Edict  of  Restitution  for 
Saxony  and  Brandenburg.  Not  that  this  was  brought 
about  by  the  treaty,  but  it  was  the  first  evidence  that  the 
Emperor  no  longer  expected  to  carry  out  this  ordinance. 
It  required  thirteen  years  more  of  fearful  warfare  to  prove 
that  it  must  be  given  up  for  the  other  German  states  also. 

The  idea  of  putting  an  end,  in  one  way  or  another,  to 
this  unholy  war  must  certainly  have  been  attractive  at  this 
doleful  period.  But  the  Treaty  of  Prague  held  out  no 
prospect  of  it  either  to  the  empire  or  for  the  states,  who 
thought  they  had  at  least  taken  good  care  of  themselves. 
A  time  of  fearful  suffering  now  began  for  Saxony  and 
Brandenburg ;  both  countries  were  the  victims  of  a  re- 
fined brutality;  the  Imperialists  treated  them  like  hostile 
countries,  and  the  Swedes  with  the  malicious  vengeance 
which  is  the  portion  of  renegades.  The  condition  into 
which  the  countries  of  North  Germany  were  brought  by  the 
peace  was  a  fearful  satire  upon  it. 

WEIMAR  IN  FRENCH  PAY. — BANER'S  VICTORIES  AND 
VICISSITUDES.     1636-7. 

Before  the  end  of  1635  a  favourable  turn  took  place  for 
the  Swedish  arms. 

In  the  western  seat  of  war  Duke  Bernhard  was  fighting 
with  decided  ill  success.  The  Imperialists  were  making 
unhindered  progress  on  the  Rhine  and  in  Alsace,  when  at 
length  the  French  appeared  in  the  field  with  a  second 
army.  It  consisted  of  15,000  men,  commanded  by  the 
Cardinal  de  la  Valette,  youngest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Eper- 
non,  and  it  comprised  the  flower  of  the  French  nobility. 
That  military  training  now  began  for  them  which  afterwards 
produced  heroes.  Turenne,  Guiche,  Guebriant,  were  in 
this  army.  But  Bernhard  had  sufficiently  painful  expe- 
rience that  this  corps  had  not  got  beyond  the  very  elements 
of  military  training.  La  Valette's  delays  sent  him  nearly 
out  of  his  mind,  and,  before  he  came,  Kaiserslautern  was 
lost,  and  the  Imperialists  gained  a  firm  footing  on  the  left 
shore  of  the  Rhine.  They  met  at  last,  and  again  advanced 


WEIMAR  AND   FRANCE.  523 

through  the  Palatinate,  and  occupied  Kreuznach.  While 
the  Cardinal  besieged  Bingen,  Mayence  was  relieved,  but 
in  August,  Frankfort  was  lost.  Bernhard  now  urged  La 
Valette  to  cross  to  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  he  was 
willing  to  do  so,  but  the  Swiss  and  the  French  cavaliers 
in  the  army  opposed  it.  They  were  only  silenced  by 
threats  that  the  mutineers  would  be  cut  down,  and  by  the 
assurance  that  William  of  Hesse  was  on  the  other  side.  So 
they  crossed ;  but  the  Landgrave  did  not  come,  and  both 
armies  were  in  a  very  critical  situation.  The  French,  who 
lay  before  Hochstein,  suffered  from  want  and  sickness,  and 
mutiny  was  rife  in  Bernhard's  German  regiments.  Hard 
pressed  by  the  enemy,  amidst  some  ieats  of  arms,  but  on 
the  whole  with  great  losses,  Bernhard  made  the  brilliant 
retreat  to  the  Saar  which  won  admiration  even  from  the 
enemy.  The  Cardinal  would  not  cross  the  Rhine  again, 
but  extolled  the  excellent  military  discipline  they  had 
passed  through,  and  the  warlike  merits  of  the  Germans. 
His  soldiers  sang  a  satirical  song  about  him,  with  the 
refrain — 

1  Ou  est  le  due  de  Vimar  f ' 

which  the  Cardinal  had  always  been  exclaiming  when  in 
difficulties. 

In  the  north,  Oxenstierna,  who  had  not  been  able  to 
accomplish  anything  at  Paris,  tried  to  gather  the  scattered 
elements  together,  but  could  not  succeed  in  keeping  the 
Duke  of  Luneburg  on  his  side,  nor  in  coming  to  any  terms 
with  Saxony.  Bauer's  army  consisted  of  26,000  men,  and 
was  in  good  condition  ;  but  as  they  were  almost  all  Ger- 
mans, the  Swedes  did  not  altogether  rely  upon  them.  The 
Elector  of  Saxony  was  continually  trying  to  induce  the 
colonels  to  make  peace  with  the  Emperor,  and  rudely 
broke  off  the  negotiations  with  Oxenstierna,  by  saying  he 
would  send  his  decision  to  him  at  Stralsund. 

Half  in  despair,  Oxenstierna  retreated  to  Wismar,  and 
left  it  to  Baner,  who  was  in  perpetual  difficulties,  from  the 
defections  of  the  German  princes  and  of  his  own  tioops,  to 
hold  the  middle  and  lower  Elbe  until  he  should  succeed  in 
bringing  reinforcements  to  the  seat  of  war,  and  in  forming  a 
new  army  on  the  sea-coast. 

Meanwhile  the  Saxons  set  out  to  divide  the  Swedish 
troops  on  the  Elbe.  They  proceeded  down  the  river ;  and 


524  THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

the  vanguard  of  the  Swedes,  which  was  weak,  yielded  ;  but 
on  the  ist  of  November  an  engagement  took  place  at  Domitz, 
in  which  the  Saxons  were  beaten.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  returning  success  to  the  Swedes  ;  it  infused  coura.ge  into 
their  depressed  allies;  the  hard-pressed  Landgrave  of  Hesse, 
especially,  gained  breathing  time,  since  the  imperial  army 
was  compelled  by  this  defeat  to  move  towards  the  north. 

Before  this  an  important  diplomatic  event  had  taken 
place,  which  had  a  decisive  influence  on  the  course  of 
events — the  peace  negotiations  with  Poland.  It  was  per- 
fectly clear  that  war  could  not  be  carried  on  in  Germany 
and  in  Poland  at  the  same  time.  But  which  was  to  be 
given  up?  There  was  a  strong  feeling  in  Sweden  for  the 
war  with  Poland,  while  Richelieu  made  every  effort  to  put 
an  end  to  it,  that  the  Swedes  might  be  at  liberty  for  the 
war  in  Germany.  With  this  object,  Count  d'Avaux  was 
sent  to  Poland.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  the  policy  of 
the  Pope  and  of  the  Hapsburgs  to  keep  on  the  war  in 
Poland.  At  the  end  of  May  the  negotiations  began  at 
Ruhmsdorf,  near  Marienburg.  After  much  vicissitude  and 
vacillation,  and  having  been  more  than  once  threatened  by 
fresh  conflicts,  they  were  successfully  terminated  on  the 
1 2th  of  September,  chiefly  through  D'Avaux's  diplomatic 
energy  and  virtuosoship.  The  treaty  was  honourable  and 
advantageous  to  the  Swedes,  and  set  their  armies  under 
Wrangel  and  Torstenson  at  liberty  for  Germany. 

The  results  soon  appeared.  Baner,  united  with  Tors- 
tenson in  Mecklenburg,  gained  several  decided  advantages. 
From  the  7th  to  the  i7th  of  September  Torstenson  de- 
feated the  Saxons  near  Kiritz,  and  after  having  boasted 
that  they  would  drive  the  Swedes  across  the  sea,  they  sued 
ignominiously  for  a  truce.  This  produced  a  reaction  in  the 
south-west ;  William  of  Hesse  again  stood  firmly  by  the 
Swedes. 

Towards  the  end  of  November,  Gallas  had  to  commence 
a  disastrous  retreat  from  Lorraine,  and  to  confine  himself 
to  petty  warfare.  Nevertheless,  in  November,  Mayence, 
after  having  been  held  for  four  years  by  the  Swedes,  was 
ceded  again  by  capitulation.  The  Rhine  district  was  then 
invaded  by  wild  foreign  visitors,  the  Cossacks  and  Hussars, 
and  the  distress  in  the  whole  western  part  of  the  empire 
fearfully  increased. 

Richelieu,   who   had  gained    an    important    diplomatic 


RICHELIEU  AND   BERNHARD   OF  WEIMAR.    525 

victory  by  means  of  D'Avaux,  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
way  in  which  the  war  was  carried  on.  This  is  shown  by  the 
severe  punishments  which  he  ordained,  and  still  more  plainly 
by  the  decided  connection  into  which  he  now  entered  with 
Bernhard  of  Weimar.  In  the  summer,  on  discussing  the 
subject  with  La  Valette  and  other  French  generals,  he  had 
convinced  himself  that  nothing  was  to  be  done  without  the 
Uuke.  In  July  he  had  conjured  La  Valette  to  neglect 
nothing  which  was  calculated  to  secure  the  Duke  for  the 
interests  of  France.  If  Alsace  failed,  he  should  be  pro- 
vided for  in  Lorraine ;  should  that  fail  too,  France  would 
take  care  of  him. 

On  the  zyth  of  October  a  formal  treaty  was  entered 
into  at  St.  Germain  between  France  and  Weimar.*  He 
was  to  maintain  an  army  of  18,000  Germans  for  an 
annual  grant  of  4,000,000  livres,  of  which  200,000  were 
to  be  allotted  for  the  Duke's  income.  Besides  this, 
the  Landgraviate  of  Alsace  and  the  prefecture  of  Hagenau, 
with  all  the  rights  of  the  House  of  Austria,  were  to  be 
made  over  to  him,  with  one  condition  only,  that  the 
Catholic  religion  should  be  upheld.  For  this  territory  com- 
pensation was  to  be  made  in  time  of  peace.  The  Duke 
was  to  place  his  army  under  the  King  of  France,  and  to 
promise  to  lead  it  wherever  he  should  desire. 

The  Duke  did  not  conceal  from  himself  the  importance 
of  this  treaty,  and  took  special  care  not  to  disturb  the 
opinion  of  his  troops  that  he  was  in  the  field  only  as  an 
independent  ally  of  France  ;  but  he  wanted  the  French,  and 
trusted  that  he  should  be  able  to  abide  by  the  treaty  without 
forfeiting  his  independence.  He  went  through  various  pain- 
ful experiences  on  his  way  to  Paris,  but  maintained  a 
princely  bearing  at  the  Court,  where  they  tried  to  allure  him 
by  banquets  and  beautiful  women.  In  the  subsequent  con- 
duct of  the  war  he  successfully  imitated  his  model,  Gusta- 
vus  Adolphus,  and  was  in  fact  much  more  independent  than 
might  have  been  expected  from  the  conditions  of  the  treaty. 
He  was  his  own  master,  but  carried  on  the  war  with  French 
money. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  the   remnant   of  the 
Swedish  army  regained  its  importance.     Saxony  and  Bran- 
denburg were  once  more  drawn  into  the  war,  and  were  fear- 
fully chastised  for  the  separate  treaties  they  had  made. 
*  Rose,  ii.  467-469,  479. 


526    THIRD   PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

The  most  able  man  whom  Sweden  now  possessed  was 
B.iner.  He  was  a  thorough  soldier,  steeled  and  hardened 
in  all  weathers,  and  exhibited  a  certain  blustering  indifference 
to  death  and  danger.  He  was  an  active  and  skilful  general, 
and  was  the  first  of  the  successors  of  Gustavus  under  whom 
the  Swedish  arms  achieved  victory  again ;  but  he  was  also 
a  complete  representative  of  this  later  period  of  the  war, 
for  he  carried  it  on  without  any  lofty  aims,  solely  as  a 
business  which  brought  with  it  gain,  enjoyment,  and  revelry. 
He  gave  himself  up  to  pleasure  and  excess  like  the  soldiers 
under  his  command,  was  a  wild,  lawless  fellow,  a  creature  of 
the  army  and  the  age  ;  but  he  possessed  the  military  ability 
of  a  generation  who  knew  peace  only  by  name,  and  who 
had  grown  up  amidst  the  rough  gales  of  fearful  conflicts. 

But  the  war  had  assumed  a  character  at  which  even 
Baner  sometimes  shuddered.  He  once  said  of  his  own 
soldiers  that  it  would  be  no  marvel  if  the  earth  opened  and 
swallowed  up.  such  shameless  wantons. 

It  was  he  who  brought  the  scourge  of  this  war  into  un- 
fortunate electoral  Saxony.  He  had  first  invaded  the 
country  in  January  and  February,  1636,  but  not  being  strong 
enough  to  advance  further,  he  had  retreated  to  a  post  of 
observation  in  a  camp  near  Werben.  While  he  was  lying 
still  here,  and,  as  far  as  it  was  possible  in  his  painful  pecu- 
niary embarrassments,  obtaining  reinforcements  with  French 
money,  the  imperial  troops  under  Peter  Gotz  were  devas- 
tating Lower  Hesse  and  part  of  Westphalia.  Eighteen 
towns  and  three  hundred  villages  were  ruined,  forty-seven 
castles  burnt,  and  one-third  of  the  population  disappeared, 
and  John  of  Werth,  with  his  hordes  of  cavalry,  was  terrify- 
ing the  neighbourhood  of  Paris.  "  Jean  de  Werth"  threw 
the  capital  of  France  into  a  panic  of  fear,  and  the  people 
were  preparing  for  the  horrors  of  a  visit  from  these  dreaded 
horsemen.  Richelieu  alone,  on  whose  head  imprecations 
were  called  down,  maintained  a  manly  attitude,  and  with 
imposing  calmness  faced  the  furious  mob.  It  was  shown 
once  more  what  the  French  were  as  a  nation  ;  they  readily 
furnished  money  and  troops  when  necessity  required.  When 
a  large  army  was  equipped  the  panic  subsided,  and  the 
enemy  would  not  have  been  able  long  to  remain  on  French 
soil  if  want  of  skill  in  the  command,  dissensions,  and 
political  intrigues  had  not  lamed  the  defensive  efforts  of  the 
people. 


JOHN   OF  WERTH.  527 

They  were,  however,  at  length  relieved  by  the  first  great 
victory  which  Baner  meanwhile  had  gained  in  the  north. 

At  the  end  of  September  he  had  again  advanced  against 
the  Saxons,  and  overtaken  the  Elector  and  Hatzfeld  near 
Wittstock.  On  the  4th  of  October  a  sanguinary  and  long- 
doubtful  struggle  took  place,  which,  however,  ended  in  the 
retreat  of  the  Saxons  and  Imperialists.  Six  thousand  dead 
and  the  baggage  and  artillery  of  the  Elector  were  left  on  the 
field  of  battle.  The  results,  if  not  to  be  compared  with 
those  of  the  victory  of  Ndrdlingen,  were  sufficiently  im- 
portant. They  inspired  fresh  hopes  into  Austria's  enemies ; 
Saxony's  defection  recoiled  with  a  heavy  weight  upon  the 
instigators  of  it ;  France  was  relieved  ;  Denmark  remained 
quiet ;  and  those  who  had  lately  gone  over,  such  as  George 
of  Liineburg,  were  placed  in  a  most  painful  situation. 

In  November,  Baner  proceeded  southwards  towards 
Saxony  and  Thuringia,  and  made  inroads  as  far  as  Hesse. 
These  unfortunate  countries  suffered  fearful  devastation 
from  both  friends  and  foes.  In  December,  he  again  turned 
towards  electoral  Saxony,  subdued  Erfurt,  and  then  advanced 
by  way  of  Naumburg  to  Meissen,  in  order  to  intercept  the 
meeting  of  John  George  of  Saxony  with  the  troops  of 
Brandenburg. 

At  this  time,  the  22nd  of  December,  1636,  the  son  of  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand  II.  was  elected  King  of  Rome.  It 
had  been  attempted  unsuccessfully  before,  and  was  not 
now  accomplished  without  opposition  —  the  Elector  of 
Treves  was  in  prison,  of  the  Palatinate  in  exile,  the  Elector 
of  Bavaria  not  generally  acknowledged — but  just  then  it  was 
an  important  success  for  the  imperial  cause.  On  the  i5th 
of  February  of  the  following  year  Ferdinand  II.  died. 

The  year  1637  brought  increasing  success  to  the  Impe- 
rialists, so  that  they  were  able  to  project  the  expulsion 
of  the  Swedes  from  German  soil.  But  then  they  should 
not  have  displaced  competent  leaders  like  John  of  Werth, 
and  have  put  a  man  like  Gallas  at  their  head,  who  often 
forgot  his  duty  in  the  pleasures  of  a  luxurious  camp-life. 

Electoral  Brandenburg  now  zealously  took  part  in  the 
war.  George  William  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the 
Emperor  at  Prague,  in  which  he  agreed  to  raise  an  army 
of  7,000  men  in  Brandenburg  and  Pomerania,  which  was  to 
swear  fealty  both  to  the  Elector  and  the  Emperor. 

Meanwhile,  Baner  had  been  shut  in  at  Torgau  by  a  force 


528    THIRD  PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

at  least  double  his  own,  and  he  was  obliged  to  be  on  the 
alert  lest  he  and  his  troops  should  be  lost.  He  resolved  to 
retire  to  the  coast  and  maintain  his  position  in  Pomerania. 
There  was  a  dexterous  rumour  that  he  would  appear  before 
Erfurt,  and  a  detachment  of  the  imperial  army  was  therefore 
kept  on  the  left  shore.  Baner  then  crossed  the  Elster  near 
Herzberg,  and,  proceeding  by  way  of  Luckau  and  Lubben, 
reached  the  Oder  near  Fiirstenberg,  and  crossed  it  in  shallow 
places.  But  as  he  was  proceeding  to  Landsberg  on  the 
Warthe,  he  was  pursued  by  the  Imperialists  by  way  of 
Jiiterbogk,  Baruth,  and  Kiistrin,  and  on  the  4th  of  July 
they  were  before  Landsberg,  while  Wrangel,  who  was  to 
advance  from  Pomerania  to  meet  Baner,  had  only  reached 
Schwedt.  Once  again  Baner  deceived  the  enemy.  Pretend- 
ing that  he  was  going  through  Poland,  he  returned  to  the 
Oder,  waded  through  the  shallow  stream  opposite  Goritz, 
and  on  the  i3th  of  July  joined  Wrangel's  vanguard.  The 
forces  of  both  then  retreated  to  Stettin. 

VICTORIES  AND  DEATH  OF  BERNHARD  OF  WEIMAR. 
1638-9. 

Neither  the  armies  nor  the  generals  who  had  been  carry- 
ing on  the  war  in  Germany  for  the  last  four  years  showed  a 
trace  of  its  original  object,  either  in  their  character  or  pro- 
ceedings ;  on  all  sides  there  was  the  same  degeneracy,  the 
same  lawless  doings  of  homeless  soldiers,  who  only  cared 
to  live  through  a  few  merry  years  amidst  the  universal 
misery.  Among  the  common  soldiers  this  was  indicated  by 
incredible  bestiality  ;  by  their  leaders  in  the  same  manner, 
though  in  a  less  degree.  Every  sentiment  of  patriotism, 
faith,  justice,  and  morality  had  utterly  perished  in  this 
vortex  of  unbridled  passions.  Richelieu's  tenacious  diplo- 
macy and  Austria's  blind  zeal  for  conversion  are  almost 
the  only  remaining  symptoms  of  a  conscious  purpose. 

Under  such  circumstances  Bernhard  of  Weimar  attained 
a  renown  which  would  not  otherwise  have  been  his  portion. 

He  was  the  most  gifted  of  all  the  princely  adventurers 
who  were  hoping  to  gain  a  principality  in  this  game  of 
chance — the  only  one  among  the  generals  who  had  not 
degenerated  into  a  homeless  hireling.  In  Germany  they 
forgot  that  he  was  a  French  field-marshal,  for  he  not  only, 
in  spite  of  the  Treaty  of  St.  Germain,  had  maintained  u 


BERNHARD  OF  WEIMAR.  529 

certain  independence  towards  the  French,  but  raised  a 
German  army  to  make  himself  independent  both  of  the 
French  and  the  Swedes.  He  took  advantage  of  the  rivalry 
between  the  Germans,  the  Swedes,  and  the  French,  and 
appeared  everywhere  as  the  champion  of  Protestant  Ger- 
many. To  add  to  this  now,  there  were  his  brilliant  military 
achievements,  which  put  even  those  of  Baner  into  the 
shade,  and  seemed  to  bring  back  the  days  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  Up  to  this  time  the  jealousy  of  the  Swedes 
had  not  allowed  him  to  develop  his  talents  to  the  full ;  he 
had  always  been  placed  in  the  second  rank,  but  now  he 
acted  independently,  and  with  a  skill  like  that  of  Wallen- 
stein,  he  created  an  army  of  his  own,  and  it  could  not  be 
denied  that  it  bore  that  decided  stamp  which  German  troops, 
German  officers,  and  German  military  skill  conferred  on  an 
army.  In  a  surprisingly  short  time  he  had  a  splendid  force 
in  the  field,  and  after  the  beginning  of  1638  accomplished 
feats  which  placed  him  among  the  ranks  of  the  first  generals 
of  his  time. 

The  Treaty  of  St.  Germain  had  not  been  fully  carried  out 
by  the  French.  Months  had  passed  in  vexatious  negotia- 
tions about  the  bare  performance  of  their  engagements.  At 
length,  in  April,  1637,  an  agreement  had  been  come  to. 
Bernhard  only  received  two  million  and  a  half  of  livres, 
and  only  10,000  men,  instead  of  the  20,000  he  had  hoped 
for.  Then,  to  please  Richelieu,  he  was  obliged  to  agree 
to  defend  Lorraine,  and  several  weeks  passed  before 
pressing  pecuniary  difficulties  permitted  the  expedition  to 
begin.  Nothing  decisive  could  take  place  in  that  year, 
and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  Bernhard  obtained  leave, 
after  some  progress  had  been  made,  to  cross  the  Rhine,  and 
come  to  Baner's  relief. 

The  Rhine  was  crossed  at  the  end  of  July  ;  the  first 
attacks  of  John  of  VVerth  were  successfully  repulsed,  but  it 
was  not  possible  to  maintain  the  right  bank  without  rein- 
forcements, in  face  of  the  increasing  forces  of  the  enemy. 
In  October,  Bernhard  commenced  a  retreat,  and  spent  the 
winter  months  in  the  bishopric  of  Basle,  continually  nego- 
tiating with  the  Court  at  Paris,  who  at  length  agreed,  in 
February,  to  pay  the  arrears  of  2,400,000  livres  for  the  new 
year ;  but  instead  of  the  8,000  men  whom  Bernhard  de- 
manded, he  only  received  an  indefinite  promise  of  a  con- 
siderable force  on  the  left  shore  of  the  Rhine. 

M  M 


530    THIRD   PHASE   OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

But  before  Bernhard  received  this  intelligence  he  had 
taken  decisive  action  on  his  own  account.  Relying  upon 
the  Imperialists  being  dispersed  in  their  winter  quarters, 
and  the  discord  among  the  generals,  on  the  27th  of  January 
he  set  out  in  profound  secrecy  from  near  Delsberg ;  on  the 
2 gth  suddenly  invaded  the  Frickthal ;  on  the  3oth  crossed 
the  Rhine  in  fishing-boats,  surprised  Sackingen  and  Laufen- 
burg,  destroyed  a  hostile  regiment ;  on  the  ist  of  February 
took  Beuggen  and  Waldshut,  and  the  next  day  appeared 
before  Rheinfelden,  and  besieged  it  with  great  vigour. 

The  Imperialists,  in  their  scattered  cantonments,  now 
began  to  bestir  themselves  ;  the  peasants  of  Schwarzwald 
were  called  upon,  and,  just  when  Rheinfelden  was  reduced 
to  extremity,  Savelli  and  Werth  came  to  the  relief  of  the 
country  round  Beuggen.  An  engagement  took  place  near 
Rheinfelden,  where  the  Imperialists,  after  a  hot  and  disas- 
trous combat  on  both  sides,  succeeded  in  getting  help  and 
provisions  into  the  town,  and  compelled  Bernhard  to  raise 
the  siege. 

But  owing  to  the  want  of  system  in  the  imperial  army  and 
the  dissensions  and  confusion  at  head-quarters,  this  success 
was  not  turned  to  advantage,  and  Bernhard  formed  the  bold 
resolution  of  at  once  attacking  the  careless  enemy.  In  the 
early  morning  of  the  3rd  of  March  he  again  appeared  before 
Beuggen.  The  Imperialists  now  suffered  a  complete  defeat; 
the  army  was  dispersed  in  wild  disorder,  and  the  surviving 
generals,  among  them  John  of  Werth,  were  taken  prisoners. 

A  few  days  afterwards  a  treaty  was  signed  between  France 
and  Sweden  at  Hamburg,  by  which  they  made  common 
cause ;  subsidies  from  France  were  stipulated  for,  for  the  past 
and  the  future,  and  it  was  agreed  that  peace  negotiations 
should  only  be  undertaken  in  common. 

As  a  result  of  the  victory  of  Rheinfelden,  the  town,  the 
neighbouring  fortresses,  and  soon  Freiburg,  also  fell  into 
Bernhard's  hands,  and  his  troops  extended  themselves  over 
Swabia ;  only  Breifach  offered  an  obstacle  on  the  Upper 
Rhine. 

Meanwhile  the  Imperialists  sent  reinforcements  to  the 
new  commander,  Gotz ;  but  their  warfare  was  wanting  in 
unity  and  spirit.  After  sundry  skirmishes,  Bernhard  attacked 
them  at  the  beginning  of  August  in  the  Ortenau.  He  ad- 
vanced by  way  of  Kenzingen,  Mahlberg,  and  Lahr,  towards 
Schuttern,  and  secured  the  bridges  near  Dinglingen  and 


BERNHARD   OF  WEIMAR.  531 

Friesenheim.  Gotz  took  up  a  good  position  near.  When, 
on  the  morning  of  the  Qth  of  August,  the  vanguard  set  out 
for  Breifach,  Bernhard  began  his  attack.  Although  taken 
by  surprise,  the  Imperialists  and  Bavarians,  near  Witten- 
weyer,  fought  with  great  obstinacy,  and  were  only  beaten 
after  a  long  and  changeful  contest.  Three  thousand  men, 
artillery,  trophies,  and  the  provisions  intended  for  Breifach, 
as  well  as  camp  and  baggage,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors.  By  the  middle  of  August  Bernhard  again  stood 
before  Breifach. 

This  change  in  the  south  reacted  upon  the  northern 
theatre  of  war,  for  the  imperial  forces  there  were  diminished. 
Baner  once  more  gained  ground  in  Pomerania,  and  the 
change  was  felt  in  Hesse.  But  Bernhard's  victory  would 
have  been  followed  by  greater  results  if  the  French  had 
given  him  substantial  help,  instead  of  fair  speeches  only. 
He  complained  bitterly  of  the  non-fulfilment  of  their 
promises,  and  predicted  the  loss  of  the  advantages  gained, 
and  his  own  defeat.  Nevertheless,  the  repeated  attempts  of 
the  imperial  party  to  gain  him  over  were  entirely  unheeded. 

The  siege  of  Breifach  was  now  begun  in  earnest ;  but  the 
promised  help  from  France  either  did  not  come  at  all  or 
was  ineffective  when  it  did. 

From  a  sick-bed  at  Colmar,  Bernhard  did  all  that  it  was 
possible  for  man  to  do  to  frustrate  all  attempts  to  make 
peace  until  he  should  receive  succour  and  supplies.  On 
the  1 5th  of  October  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  was  beaten  at 
Tann.  On  the  24th  there  was  a  long  and  doubtful  contest 
in  the  lines  about  Breifach ;  but  Bernhard,  who  was  still  ill, 
was  carried  out  of  his  tent,  and  was  this  time  powerfully  aided 
by  Guebriant  and  Turenne,  finally  carried  the  day,  after  his 
assaults  had  been  seven  times  repulsed. 

On  the  ist  of  November,  Lorraine  was  a  second  time 
defeated,  and  the  last  outworks  of  the  fortress  were  lost, 
though  everything  was  done  on  the  imperial  side  to  save 
them.  Gotz  was  recalled,  doubts  having  arisen  about  his 
loyalty,  and  he  was  subjected  to  a  tedious  trial ;  but  his 
successor  was  not  able  to  do  more  than  lead  his  exhausted 
troops  back  through  the  Schwarzwald ;  and  how  different 
even  then  might  have  been  the  result  if  Bernhard  had  been 
efficiently  supported  by  the  French,  instead  of  having  to 
spend  weeks  and  months  in  begging  for  every  two  or  three 
thousand  men. 


532    THIRD  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

Reduced  to  extremities,  and  without  hope  of  succour, 
on  the  i  yth  of  December,  Breifach  capitulated.  The  Duke 
at  once  established  himself  comfortably  in  this  fresh  acqui- 
sition, and  filled  his  French  allies  with  alarm  about  the 
formation  of  this  new  principality.  A  glance  at  the  French 
mode  of  warfare,  as  compared  with  the  annihilating  blows 
dealt  by  Weimar,  must  have  relieved  as  well  as  shamed 
them.  Richelieu  was  right  in  exclaiming,  on  receiving  the 
latest  news  of  victory,  "  We  have  no  Duke  of  Weimar  !  " 

In  the  north  and  east,  also,  the  Imperialists  had  lost 
their  favourable  position ;  Baner  was  again  master  in  Pome- 
rania  and  Mecklenburg,  and  could  entertain  the  idea  of 
joining  Bernhard's  operations. 

Bernhard's  feats  had  a  wonderfully  inspiriting  effect  in 
Protestant  Germany.  In  the  course  of  a  few  months  he 
had  been  victorious  in  a  number  of  engagements,  taken 
fortresses  thought  to  be  impregnable,  sometimes  on  the  first 
assault,  and  within  one  half  year  he  had  restored  the  supre- 
macy of  the  Protestant  arms  in  South-west  Germany — even 
in  districts  which,  since  1634,  had  been  sacrificed  to  jealous 
reaction.  He  now  restored  to  the  oppressed  Protestants  an 
independent  existence,  drove  the  Imperialists  back  to 
Bavaria,  and  achieved  moral  successes  which  had  been 
granted  to  no  one  since  Gustavus  Adolphus. 

It  was  this  that  gave  the  Duke  of  Weimar  so  peculiar  a 
position  at  this  period.  The  archives  do  not  exhibit  him 
in  the  most  favourable  light,  but  his  deeds  were  dazzling ; 
Richelieu  was  practically  nobody  in  comparison  with  him. 
The  army  recognised  no  one  but  him,  and  his  victories  were 
the  greatest  exploits  of  the  last  six  or  eight  years. 

But  those  short  episodes  were  brilliant  meteors,  speedily 
to  be  extinguished ;  and  it  indicates  the  hopeless  state  of 
German  affairs,  that  the  day  came  when  the  death  of  Bern- 
hard,  the  French  field-marshal,  was  a  sort  of  national  mis- 
fortune. He  was  the  last  who,  as  it  were,  in  French  garb 
and  with  French  money,  fought  for  other  than  French 
interests.  When  he  was  out  of  the  way  the  inexhaustible 
patience  of  French  diplomacy  had  overcome  all  obstacles, 
and  Richelieu's  endeavours  were  crowned  with  success. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1639  this  change  took  place.  In 
the  spring,  Baner  had  set  out  for  Central  Germany ;  had 
invaded  Saxony,  and,  encouraged  by  a  victory  at  Chemnitz, 
attempted  to  invade  Bohemia.  But  this  turned  out  most 


BERNHARD   OF  WEIMAR.  533 

unfortunately.  His  hopes  of  a  rising  among  the  people  were 
not  fulfilled ;  he  was  too  weak  to  take  Prague,  and  in  June, 
amidst  fearful  devastation,  he  commenced  a  retreat. 

In  Paris  they  vacillated  between  satisfaction  over  Bern- 
hard's  latest  victories  and  anxiety  as  to  his  designs.  It  had 
become  clear,  when  he  sounded  them  on  the  subject  in 
1638,  that  they  were  not  disposed  to  leave  him  in  possession 
of  Breifach.  But  the  affair  dragged  on.  Richelieu  reckoned 
that  Bernhard  would  yield,  and  had  already  selected 
Guebriant  as  governor.  Bernhard  remained  quiet,  and  his 
commissioner  referred  the  subject  to  communications  which 
he  would  make  personally. 

Meanwhile,  in  January,  1639,  without  consulting  any 
one,  Bernhard  suddenly  set  out  from  Breifach,  took  the 
castle  of  Landskron,  and  advanced  towards  Lorraine.  The 
Spaniards  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  were  surprised.  Port- 
arlier  and  Joux  fell,  and  nearly  all  this  rich  country  lay  open 
to  him. 

Even  this,  satisfactory  as  it  seemed  in  itself,  was  a  source 
of  iresh  anxieties  at  Paris,  and  the  Duke  was  still  silent 
about  Breifach.  All  that  could  be  learnt  about  it  was  that 
he  would  arrange  the  matter  personally  at  Paris.  But 
warned  by  the  other  side,  he  gave  up  the  journey  to  Paris, 
in  spite  of  the  most  flattering  invitations,  and  tried  to 
subdue  the  Cardinal's  ill-humour  by  friendly  letters. 

But  it  was  plain  that  he  was  scheming  to  form  a  powerful 
principality  out  of  Alsace,  parts  of  Lorraine,  the  free  earl- 
dom, and  other  Upper  Rhenish  districts,  while  the  utmost 
intentions  of  France  were  to  grant  them  to  him  for  his  life- 
time. It  was  the  interest  of  both  to  avoid  a  breach.  Bern- 
hard  therefore  tried  to  find  a  solution  of  the  difficulty,  and 
in  April  sent  his  commissioner  to  Paris.  He  was  to  repre- 
sent that  the  surrender  of  Breifach  would  give  rise  to  a 
suspicion  that  the  empire  was  overpowered  by  France, 
which  would  displease  both  the  German  princes  and  the 
Swedes.  The  Cardinal  was  ready  to  pay  the  promised  sub- 
sidies, and  even  some  extra  supplies ;  but  then  the  Duke 
must  engage  to  hold  Breifach  and  the  conquered  fortresses 
under  his  Majesty  the  King,  not  to  surrender  them  to  any 
other  person,  and  to  give  up  the  disposition  of  his  conquests. 

Whether  Bernhard  would  agree  to  this  was  very  doubt- 
ful; but  his  commissioner  accepted  an  annuity  of  20,000 
livres,  and  engaged  to  guard  Breiiach  for  Richelieu,  now, 


534    THIRD   PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'   WAR. 

and  in  the  event  of  Bernhard's  death,  and  to  furnish  Riche- 
lieu with  private  information  respecting  the  Duke. 

Meanwhile,  Bernhard  exercised  sovereign  rule  in  the 
conquered  territories,  averted  the  interference  of  French 
officials,  fostered  agriculture,  and  did  what  he  could  to 
render  his  rule  acceptable  to  the  people.  His  relations 
with  France  were  on  the  verge  of  an  open  breach.  In 
July  he  had  discussions  with  Guebriant  at  Pontarlier,  which 
nearly  led  to  it.  He  demanded  Alsace  and  the  most 
important  fortresses  as  a  possession,  declined  to  make  any 
concessions  of  his  former  or  future  conquests  to  France, 
and  demanded  larger  subsidies. 

He  left  Pontarlier,  and  arrived  on  the  i4th  of  July  at 
Hiiningen  ;  there  he  fell  ill,  and  on  the  i8th  sank  under  his 
sufferings. 

There  were  suspicions  of  poison,  for  there  were  spots  on 
his  body  after  his  death,  for  which  the  medical  art  of  that 
day  could  not  account ;  but  this  proves  nothing,  for  nothing 
can  be  more  absurd  than  the  medical  reports  of  those  days 
of  the  facts  and  symptoms  of  an  illness.  On  this  and 
other  occasions  the  impression  conveyed  is  that  the  fatal 
result  of  the  malady  must  be  mainly  ascribed  to  the 
doctor's  art. 

Still,  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  idea  of  violence  was 
spread  far  and  wide— allusions  were  even  made  to  it  in  the 
preacher's  funeral  discourse  at  the  grave — and  all  agreed 
in  pointing  to  Richelieu,  his  ally,  in  whose  service  he  was 
fighting,  as  the  author  of  it.  There  was  an  instinct  which 
prompted  this  improbable  notion,  for  the  people  had 
thought : — they  are  at  variance  ;  the  Cardinal  takes  no 
pleasure  in  the  Duke's  victories  ;  he  wants  to  get  rid  of 
him,  that  he  may  put  a  real  French  field-marshal  in  the 
place  of  the  ostensible  one.* 

In  fact,  if  ever  a  man's  death  was  welcome  to  any  one, 
Bernhard's  was  to  Richelieu.  Twice  had  his  purposes 
been  thrust  into  the  background,  and  he  had  to  play  the 
part  of  a  discontented  ally,  who  had  to  find  the  money,  but 
was  not  permitted  to  have  any  voice  in  the  management ; 
now  he  would  be  able  to  get  the  best  army  in  the  world 
into  his  own  hands,  and  to  pursue  his  policy  with  a  prospect  of 
success.  The  French  command  could  no  longer  be  set  aside. 

*  Rose,  ii.  328,  shows  how  entirely  unexpected  Bernhard's  death 
was  to  the  French. 


DEATH   OF  BERNHARD   OF  WEIMAR.  535. 

As  we  have  seen,  Richelieu  found  it  very  difficult  to 
create  an  army  commensurate  with  his  aims,  and  equal  to 
that  of  the  enemy.  The  French  military  system  was  then 
unusually  bad.  The  feats  of  the  French  army  were  spoken 
of  in  that  warlike  age  with  the  greatest  contempt,  and  the 
performances  of  La  Valette's  army  were  not  calculated  to 
dispel  it.  The  French  had  fallen  into  the  background, 
though  no  one  will  deny  the  military  efficiency  of  the  nation 
in  itself. 

The  Duke  left  a  will,  in  which  he  bequeathed  the  com- 
mand to  one  of  his  brothers,  and  ordained,  besides,  "As 
to  the  conquered  countries,  and  they  are  very  considerable 
countries  and  fortresses,  we  wish  them  to  be  preserved  to 
the  German  empire,  and  we  therefore  bequeath  and  devise 
them  to  whichever  of  our  dear  brothers  shall  desire  to 
accept  them,  and  can  and  will  best  serve  your  Majesty  and 
the  crown  of  Sweden,  that  your  Majesties  (Ihre  Liebden)"'- 
may  be  the  better  supported  in  the  aforesaid  countries." 

If  neither  of  the  brothers  would  take  them,  France  was 
to  have  the  preference  ;  but  when  peace  was  made  she  was 
to  restore  them  to  the  empire. 

This  did  not  suffice  to  protect  the  interest  of  Germany  in 
the  great  commotion  that  arose  about  the  inheritance. 
Sweden  still  looked  upon  the  army  as  a  branch  of  her  own  ; 
Bernhard's  brothers  took  steps  to  gain  it  for  themselves; 
even  the  Emperor  had  a  scheme  for  gaining  possession  of 
it ;  but  Richelieu  was  more  on  the  alert  than  any  of  them. 
On  the  23th  of  July,  D'Oissonville  appeared  at  Breifach 
with  a  handsome  sum  of  money,  to  bribe  the  leaders  and 
gain  over  the  fortresses.  Longueville  was  selected  as  the 
Duke's  successor.  Erlach  and  Guebriant  were  naturally 
zealous  in  the  interests  of  France ;  the  masses  were  helpless, 
the  leaders  cheap. 

It  was,  .of  course,  but  a  small  matter  for  Richelieu  to 
put  aside  this  inconvenient  will ;  still,  it  was  not  until 
October  that  the  business  was  concluded.  Under  pretence 
of  maintaining  previous  agreements  intact,  new  ones  were 
entered  into.  The  army  was  kept  together  as  a  whole ;  in 
return  for  some  considerable  rewards,  and  other  immediate 
advantages,  for  the  engagement  to  supply  provisions  and 
the  necessaries  of  war,  and  to  carry  out  gifts  of  land  by  the 
deceased,  the  commanders  and  officers  ot  the  whole  army 
*  A  title  given  by  sovereign  princes  to  each  other. — TR. 


536   THIRD  PHASE  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

promised  allegiance  to  the  King,  engaged  to  serve  against 
any  one,  to  be  ready  for  any  enterprise  on  behalf  of  the 
restoration  of  public  liberties  and  the  oppressed  classes,  as 
the  King  might  see  fit,  should  it  be  in  France,  Burgundy, 
Lorraine,  or  the  Netherlands.  The  conquered  fortresses 
should  at  once,  "in  accordance  with  the  Duke's  will"(!)  be 
made  over  to  the  King,  Breifach  and  Freiburg  should  be 
garrisoned  with  half  French  and  half  German  troops,  and 
commanded  according  to  the  King's  pleasure. 

This  was  immediately  carried  out,  and  the  negotiators 
were  handsomely  rewarded.  The  Count  Palatine  Louis, 
who  too  late  appeared  as  a  candidate,  was  detained  in 
France ;  Bernhard's  brothers  were  duped,  and  even  de- 
prived of  their  personal  legacies. 

The  army  was  now  French ;  a  Frenchman  was  at  its  head. 
Some  French  regiments  were  placed  by  the  side  of  the 
German  ones,  that  they  might  take  lessons  from  them. 
The  army  was  but  moderately  commanded  for  a  long  time, 
and  suffered  a  number  of  defeats  ;  but  it  was  the  school  in 
which  Turenne  and  other  great  generals  were  trained,  who 
were  to  raise  France  to  the  position  of  the  greatest  military 
power  in  Europe. 

It  was  a  great  thing  for  Richelieu,  who  had  hitherto  only 
exercised  a  secondary  influence  by  means  of  money,  and 
had  only  attained  to  a  partial  co-operation  with  great  diffi- 
culty, that  he  was  now  all  at  once  relieved  from  these 
restraints,  and  had  an  army  pledged  to  his  service,  and 
entirely  supported  by  him. 

These  events  were  the  turning-point  in  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  towards  which  things  had  been  tending  ever  since  the 
death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  The  twofold  interference  of 
France  and  Sweden  determined  the  last  act  of  the  war,  and 
the  supremacy  of  France  in  Europe  is  connected  with  the 
enlargement  of  the  country  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia. 


PART  XL 


END  OF  THE  WAR.     THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA. 
1640-48. 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

BAKER'S  END,  MAY,  1641,  AND  TORSTENSON'S  VICTORIES,* 
1642-5. 

Battle  of  Leipzig,  2nd  November,  1643. —  Campaign  against  Denmark, 
1643-44. — Victory  near  Jankowitz,  February,  1645. — Simultaneous 
warfare  of  the  French. — The  Peace  Negotiations  and  end  of  the 
War. — The  Diet  of  Ratisbon  from  September,  1640. — Branden- 
burg's Proposition  of  Unconditional  Amnesty,  and  Restoration  to 
the  Condition  of  1618. — The  Hamburg  Preliminaries,  December, 
1641. — The  Meeting  of  Deputies  at  Frankfort,  1642-45. — Begin- 
ning of  the  Peace  Congress  and  end  of  the  War,  1644-48. 

BANER'S  END,  AND  TORSTENSON'S  VICTORIES. 

HPHE  war  still  went  on  for  eight  years,  but  the  only 
•A-  influence  that  it  exerted  upon  the  subsequent  Peace  was 
that  it  overcame  the  last  doubts  of  the  Imperial  court  as  to 
the  indispensable  principles  of  the  Peace.  The  indemnifi- 
cation schemes  of  the  governments  which  had  interfered  in 
the  conflict  were  not  altered,  but  until  the  fourth  decade 
they  could  not  accustom  themselves  at  Vienna  to  the  idea 
of  the  amnesty  and  the  restoration  of  the  old  treaties  of 
peace.  The  last  few  years  of  the  war  decidedly  conduced 
to  this  end. 

The  first  event  of  importance  on  the  theatre  of  war  after 

*  Besides  the  before-mentioned  literature,  Chemnitz,  Geschichte  des 
Schw.  Krieges,  new  ed.,  Stockholm,  1857.  Keller,  Drangsale  des 
Nass.  Volks  im  dieissigjahrigen  Krieg.  Gotha,  1854.  Der  Abentheuer- 
liche  Simplicissimus.  Neue  Ausgabe,  Stuttgard,  1854,  2  Bde.  Bou- 
geant,  hist,  du  Traite"  de  Westphalie,  2  Bdc.  Meiern,  Acta  pacis  West- 
phalicae,  1734.  6  Bde.  Riitter,  Gcist  des  Westphal.  Friedens,  1795. — 
Hippolithus  Lapide,  de  ratione  status  in  Imperio  R.  Germanico,  1647. 


538  END  OF  THE  WAR. 

Bernhard's  death  was  Baner's  attempt  to  join  the  army  of 
Weimar  in  central  Germany.  Not  in  a  condition  to  pass 
the  winter  in  Bohemia,  and  threatened  in  Saxony  and 
Silesia,  he  did  the  only  thing  which  rendered  the  longer 
tarriance  of  a  Swedish  army  possible — he  resolved  to  cross 
the  Erzegebirge  into  Thuringia,  to  compel  the  vacillating 
Hessians  and  Liineburgers  to  help,  and  to  join  the  French- 
Weimar  army.  In  March,  1640,  he  commenced  a  retreat 
amidst  fearful  devastations,  crossed  the  Elbe  at  Leitmeritz, 
and  arrived  April  3rd  at  Zwickau.  He  succeeded  in  join- 
ing with  the  mercenaries  of  Weimar  and  the  troops  of 
Liineburg  and  Hesse  at  Saalfeld,  but  want  of  unity  in  the 
command,  discord  among  the  princes,  the  privations  that 
had  to  be  endured  in  these  exhausted  countries,  and 
mutiny  among  the  Weimar  troops,  prevented  any  joint 
action.  They  had  to  commence  a  retreat,  and  to  confine 
themselves  to  a  watchful  defensive  action.  Until  December, 
the  war  on  both  sides  consisted  of  marches  hither  and 
thither,  accompanied  with  horrible  devastation  ;  but  nothing 
decisive  occurred. 

In  September  the  Diet  met  at  Ratisbon.  While  weari- 
some attempts  were  being  made  to  bend  the  obstinacy  of 
Austria,  Baner  resolved  to  compel  her  to  yield  by  a  bold 
stroke,  to  invade  the  Upper  Palatinate,  to  surprise  Ratisbon, 
and  to  put  an  end  to  the  Diet  and  Emperor  together.  At 
the  beginning  of  September  he  set  out.  Not  without  diffi- 
culty Guebriant  was  induced  to  follow,  and  to  join  Baner 
at  Erfurt.  At  the  beginning  of  January  they  advanced 
together  towards  Baireuth  and  Bamberg.  It  was  only  on 
January  2nd,  when  the  fugitive  country  people  began  to 
arrive,  that  the  Imperial  troops  were  aware  of  their  advance. 
But  the  surprise  of  Ratisbon  was  a  failure.  The  Emperor 
declared  that  he  should  remain,  and  thereby  restored  the 
composure  of  the  Diet.  Troops  were  summoned  from  all 
sides.  Baner  and  Guebriant  did  indeed  advance  as  far  as 
Hof,  and  threw  some  balls  into  the  town  ;  but  the  enter- 
prise was  a  failure,  and  a  longer  tarriance  was  undesirable. 

The  armies  now  separated  again.  Baner  exhausted  his 
powers  of  persuasion  in  vain  to  induce  Guebriant  to  go  with 
him.  The  French  went  westward.  Hard  pressed  himself, 
Baner  pioceeded  by  forced  marches  towards  Bohemia,  and 
by  the  end  of  March  reached  Zwickau,  where  he  met  Gue- 
briant again,  and  they  had  a  sharp  conflict  with  the  Impe- 


CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  DENMARK.  539 

rialists  on  the  Saal.  There  Baner  died,  on  the  2ist  of 
May,  1641,  leaving  his  army  in  a  most  critical  condition. 

The  warfare  of  the  Swedish-French  arms  was  come  to  a 
standstill.  Both  armies  were  near  dissolution,  when,  in 
November,  Torstenson,  the  last  of  the  Gustavus  Adolphus 
school  of  generals,  and  the  one  who  most  nearly  equalled 
the  master,  appeared  with  the  Swedish  army,  and  by  a  few 
vigorous  strokes,  which  followed  each  other  with  unexam- 
pled rapidity,  restored  the  supremacy  of  its  arms.  These 
feats  were  the  more  remarkable,  as  Torstenson  was  so  ill 
with  the  gout  that  he  could  not  mount  a  horse,  and  had  to 
be  carried  everywhere  in  a  litter. 

After  three  months  of  rest,  which  he  mainly  devoted  to 
the  reorganization  and  payment  of  his  army,  by  the  middle 
of  January  he  had  advanced  towards  the  Elbe  and  the 
Altmark  ;  and  as  the  Imperial  forces  were  weakened  by- 
sending  troops  to  the  Rhine,  he  formed  the  great  project  of 
proceeding  through  Silesia  to  the  Austrian  hereditary  domi- 
nions. On  April  3rd  he  crossed  the  Elbe  at  Werben,  be- 
tween the  Imperial  troops,  increased  his  army  to  20,000 
men,  stormed  Glogau  on  May  4th,  stood  before  Schweid- 
nitz  on  the  3oth,  and  defeated  Francis  Albert  of  Lauenburg  ; 
Schweidnitz,  Neisse,  and  Oppeln  fell  into  his  hands. 

Meanwhile  Guebriant,  after  subduing  the  defiant  and 
mutinous  spirit  of  his  troops  by  means  of  money  and  pro- 
mises, had,  on  January  xyth,  defeated  the  Imperialists  near 
Kempen,  not  far  from  Crefeld,  for  which  he  was  honoured 
with  the  dignity  of  marshal. 

But  this  was  a  shortlived  gleam  of  light,  and  was  soon 
followed  by  dark  days,  occasioned  by  want  of  money  and 
discontent  in  the  camp.  An  attempt  to  recruit  the  army 
with  the  country  people  of  Brittany  was  a  failure,*  and, 
more  from  necessity  than  from  any  hope  of  success,  he  had 
turned  eastward  from  the  Rhine  to  seek  quarters  for  his 
murmuring  troops  in  nether  Germany,  when  Torstenson 
effected  a  decision  in  Saxony. 

After  relieving  Glogau,  and  having  in  vain  tried  to  enter 
Bohemia,  he  had  joined  the  detachments  of  Konigsmark 
and  Wrangel,  and  on  October  3oth  he  appeared  before 
Leipzig. 

On  November  2nd  there  was  a  battle  near  Breitenfeld, 
which  ended  in  a  disastrous  defeat  of  the  Imperialists.  In 
•  Barthold. 


540  END   OF  THE   WAR. 

spite  of  all  the  advantages  which  Torstenson  gained  foi 
himself,  it  never  came  to  a  united  action  with  the  French  j 
and  the  first  victory  won  by  the  French  in  the  Netherlands, 
in  May,  1643,  did  not  alter  this  state  of  things. 

Torstenson  was  in  the  way  to  obtain  successes  like  those 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus  eleven  years  before,  when  he  was 
suddenly  called  to  a  remote  scene  of  war  in  the  north. 
King  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark  had  been  persuaded,  by 
means  of  the  old  Danish  jealousy  of  Sweden,  to  take  up 
arms  for  the  Emperor.  He  declared  war  just  as  Torstenson 
was  proceeding  to  Austria.  Vienna  was  now  saved ;  but 
so  much  the  worse  for  Denmark.  In  forced  marches,  which 
were  justly  admired,  Torstenson  set  out  from  Silesia  towards 
Denmark  at  the  end  of  October,  conducted  a  masterly 
campaign  against  the  Danes,  beat  them  wherever  he  met 
with  them,  conquered  Holstein  and  Schleswig,  pushed  on 
to  Jutland,  then,  while  Wrangel  and  Horn  carried  on  the 
war  (till  the  peace  of  Bromsebro,  August,  1645)  he  returned, 
and  again  took  up  the  war  against  the  Imperialists,  every- 
where an  unvanquished  general. 

The  Imperialists  under  the  incompetent  Gallas  intended 
to  give  Denmark  breathing-time  by  creating  a  diversion ; 
but  it  did  not  save  Denmark,  and  brought  another  defeat 
upon  themselves.  Gallas  did  not  bring  back  more  than 
two  thousand  men  from  Magdeburg  to  Bohemia,  and  they 
were  in  a  very  disorganized  state.  He  was  pursued  by 
Torstenson,  while  Ragoczy  threatened  Hungary.  The 
Emperor  hastily  collected  what  forces  he  could  command, 
and  resolved  to  give  battle. 

Torstenson  had  advanced  as  far  as  Glattau  in  February, 
and  on  March  6th,  1645,  a  battle  was  fought  near  Janko- 
witz,  three  miles  from  Tabor.  It  was  the  most  brilliant 
victory  ever  gained  by  the  Swedes.  The  Imperial  army 
was  cut  to  pieces ;  several  of  its  leaders  imprisoned  or 
killed.  In  a  few  weeks  Torstenson  conquered  Moravia 
and  Austria  as  far  as  the  Danube.  Not  far  from  the  capital 
itself  he  took  possession  of  the  Wolfsbrucke.  As  in  1618, 
Vienna  was  in  great  danger. 

Things  might  have  taken  a  turn  as  disastrous  for  the 
Emperor  as  they  were  in  the  days  of  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
had  the  French  been  able  to  keep  pace  with  this  mode  of 
warfare.  But  their  ill  success  always  counterbalanced  the 
Swedes'  advantages.  Either  they  were  beaten  just  as  the 


RETIREMENT  OF  TORSTENSON.  541 

Swedes  were  victorious,  or   could  not   turn  a  victory  to 
account.     So  it  was  during  this  year. 

The  we?l  frontier  of  the  empire  was  guarded  on  the  im- 
perial side  by  Mercy,  together  with  John  of  Werth,  after  he 
was  liberated  from  prison.  On  26th  March,  Turenne  crossed 
the  Rhine,  and  advanced  towards  Franconia.  There  he 
encamped  near  Mergentheim  and  Rosenberg.  On  5th  May 
a  battle  near  Mergentheim  ended  with  the  entire  defeat  of 
the  French,  and  Turenne  escaped  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
by  way  of  Hammelburg,  towards  Fulda.  The  victors  pushed 
on  to  the  Rhine. 

To  avenge  this  defeat,  Enghien  was  sent  from  Paris,  and, 
at  the  beginning  of  July,  arrived  at  Spires,  with  12,000  men. 
His  forces,  together  with  Konigsmark's,  the  remnant  of 
Turenne's  and  the  Hessians,  amounted  to  30,000  men.  At 
first  Mercy  dexterously  avoided  a  battle  under  unfavourable 
circumstances,  but  on  August  3rd  the  contest  was  inevitable. 
A  bloody  battle  was  fought  between  Nordlingen  and 
Donauworth  near  Allerheim,  which  was  long  doubtful,  but, 
after  tremendous  losses,  resulted  in  the  victory  of  the 
French.  Mercy's  fall,  Werth's  imprudent  advance,  and  a 
final  brave  assault  of  the  Hessians,  decided  the  day.  But 
the  victors  were  so  weakened,  that  they  could  not  fully  take 
advantage  of  it.  Conde  was  ill ;  and  in  the  autumn  Turenne 
was  compelled,  not  without  perceptible  damage  to  the 
cause,  to  retreat  with  his  army  to  the  Neckar  and  the 
Rhine. 

Neither  had  Torstenson  been  able  to  maintain  his  posi- 
tion in  Austria.  He  had  been  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Brunn,  and  learnt  at  the  same  time  that  Ragoczy  had  just 
made  peace  with  the  Emperor.  Obliged  to  retire  to 
Bohemia,  he  found  his  forces  considerably  diminished. 

Meanwhile,  Konigsmark  had  won  an  important  advantage. 
While  Torstenson  was  in  Austria  he  gained  a  firm  footing 
in  Saxony.  Then  came  the  news  of  Allerheim,  and  of  the 
peace  of  Bromsebro.  Except  Dresden  and  Konigstein,  all 
the  important  points  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Swedes ;  so, 
on  the  6th  of  September,  the  Elector  John  George  concluded 
a  treaty  of  neutrality  for  six  months.  Besides  money  and 
supplies,  the  Swedes  received  Leipzig,  Torgau,  and  the 
right  of  passage  through  the  country. 

Meanwhile,  Torstenson  had  retreated  into  the  north-east 
of  Bohemia,  and  severe  physical  sufferings  compelled  him 


542  END   OF  THE   WAR. 

to  give  up  the  command.     He  was  succeeded  by  Charles 
Gustavus  Wrangel. 

BEGINNING  OF  NEGOTIATIONS,  AND  END  OF  THE  WAR. 

It  is  singular  that  during  the  whole  time,  from  1640  to 
the  last  exchange  of  shots  at  Prague,  peace  negotiations 
were  going  on. 

They  were  set  on  foot  just  as  Richelieu  began  to  possess 
himself  of  the  Weimar  army.  Singularly  enough,  it  was 
Denmark,  then  neutral,  a  foreign  power  among  the  imperial 
states,  that  first  made  the  proposal.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Electors  at  Nuremberg  an  amnesty  was  proposed,  and  the 
convocation  of  a  Diet,  which  had  not  met  since  1619. 

The  Diet  was  opened  in  September  at  Ratisbon.  The  Em- 
peror consented  to  grant  safe  conducts  to  the  foreign  ambas- 
sadors, and  to  admit  Hesse  Cassel  and  Brunswick- Liineberg 
among  the  Protestant  States.  Brandenburg  openly  and 
decidedly  advocated  the  only  just  programme,  and  that 
which,  after  eight  bloody  years,  was  carried  out,  release 
trom  the  peace  of  Prague,  and  proclamation  of  a  general 
unconditional  amnesty.  "  If,"  says  a  Brandenburg  report 
of  January,  1641,*  "  the  amnesty  universaliter pure  et  absque 
ulla  conditione  is  not  conceded,  and  their  rights  \iQtplenarie 
restored  to  the  States,  and  the  Treaty  of  Prague  and  the 
Imperial  Religious  Edict  fully  set  aside — if  everything  is  not 
restored  to  the  state  of  things  that  existed  in  1618  before  the 
war,  all  treaties  of  peace  will  be  in  vain,  confidence  will 
never  exist  between  the  head  and  the  members,  or  between 
the  members  themselves,  but  distrust  and  dissensions  will  be 
increased,  and  everything  will  be  in  confusion,  dissolution 
and  dismemberment,  totius  Imperil,  which,  however,  may 
the  good  God  graciously  avert." 

In  fact,  the  mischievous  results  of  the  Treaty  of  Prague 
could  not  have  been  more  strikingly  pointed  out  than  they 
were  by  the  Brandenburg  commissioners ;  instead  of  union, 
discord  had  been  produced  ;  instead  of  peace,  a  war  of  in- 
calculable length ;  instead  of  keeping  foreigners  away,  it 
had  brought  them  into  the  heart  of  the  empire.  But  Bran- 
denburg did  not  succeed  with  its  proposals  of  a  general, 
unconditional  amnesty.  Electoral  Saxony  not  only  shame- 

*  Urkunden  und  Aktenstiicke  zur  Geschichte  Friedrich  Wilhelms. 


BEGINNING  OF  NEGOTIATIONS.  543 

fully  left  it  in  the  lurch,  after  characterizing  the  Treaty  of 
Prague  as  lapidem  offensionis,  but,  with  Bavaria  and  Cologne, 
went  over  openly  to  the  Emperor's  side. 

The  Emperor  only  consented  to  an  empty  amnesty,  speci- 
ally excepting  his  own  dominions.  It  was  also  decreed 
that  the  Peace  Congress  should  take  place  at  Miinster  and 
Osnabriick,  that  the  mutual  grievances  of  the  States  should 
be  heard  at  a  meeting  of  deputies  at  Frankfort,  and  that 
afterwards  the  former  actions  against  the  Protestants  should 
be  again  introduced. 

The  second  act  of  these  preparations  was  played  at  Ham- 
burg, where,  in  December,  1641,  the  Emperor's  ambassa- 
dors, and  those  of  France  and  Sweden,  met  to  settle  the 
preliminaries  :  the  place  of  the  Congress,  its  neutrality,  and 
separate  negotiations  with  Sweden  and  France.  It  was  not 
until  September,  1642,  that  the  Emperor  ratified  the  pro- 
ceedings. He  had  been  keeping  his  eyes  on  the  seat  of 
war ;  every  success  of  his  arms,  every  disadvantage  ex- 
perienced by  the  enemy,  was  a  welcome  pretext  for  refusing 
concessions,  and  delaying  those  promised,  while  the  enemy 
boasted  none  the  less  of  every  victory  of  the  Swedes,  in 
order  to  hasten  a  conclusion.  Thus  the  victory  of  the 
Swedes  at  Leipzig  was  required,  to  bring  about  the  meeting 
of  deputies  at  Frankfort  which  the  Emperor  had  been  in  no 
hurry  to  set  about.  It  was  not  under  the  Emperor's  thumb, 
like  the  Diet  at  Ratisbon.  There  was  vehement  expression 
of  dislike  to  this  "  endless  Spanish  war."  Even  Electoral 
Mayence  and  Wiirzburg  were  very  bitter  against  Spain  and 
Bavaria  ;  the  former  advocated  the  restoration  of  the  Pala- 
tinate, that  Spain  might  at  length  be  compelled  to  give  up 
her  posts  on  the  Rhine ;  the  latter  declared  in  private  that 
the  "  religious  war  "  which  the  Emperor  and  the  Elector  of 
Bavaria  were  always  talking  about  had  turned  out  to  be  a 
war  for  their  "  sole  private  interests,  in  which  they  had  been 
obliged  to  take  part  and  be  ruined,"  and  demanded  a  general 
amnesty,  "  because  they  had  practical  experience  that 
nothing  was  to  be  done  with  the  Protestants  by  force." 

In  the  face  of  these  proposals,  the  recall  of  Torstenson 
to  Holstein  was  very  welcome  to  the  Emperor.  Saxony 
said  again  that  the  time  was  come  "  for  getting  rid  of  the 
Swedes."  Nobody  had  any  longer  any  faith  in  treaties  ; 
Mayence  was  of  opinion  that  it  would  have  been  well  if  the 
useless  meeting  of  deputies  had  not  been  called,  "  and 


544  END  OF  THE  WAR. 

money  not  thrown  away."  Amidst  tedious  discussions  as  to 
whether  it  should  be  dissolved,  or  adjourned  to  another 
place,  it  dragged  on  till  the  spring  of  1645,  and  then  broke 
up,  scarcely  any  result  having  been  obtained. 

Meanwhile,  the  Congress  had  begun  to  assemble  (1643- 
44).  The  French  insisted  that  ambassadors  from  the  Ger- 
man States  should  attend.  The  Emperor  tried  to  prevent 
it,  and  wished  to  represent  the  Empire  as  a  whole,  so  that 
he  alone  might  treat  with  foreign  powers,  and  the  princes 
only  through  him.  Sweden  joined  in  the  demand  of  France, 
and  both  finally  demanded  that  the  transactions  should  not 
begin  until  all  the  States  were  assembled.  The  Emperor  was 
obliged  to  give  way,  and  the  States  accepted  the  invitation. 

The  Emperor's  sentiments  were  mainly  dependent  on  the 
position  of  his  arms.  In  June,  1645,  Sweden  and  France 
enunciated  the  principles  of  their  demand.  These  were : 
Unlimited  amnesty  even  in  the  Austrian  dominions,  in  the 
Palatinate,  Baden,  and  Wurtemberg,  according  to  the 
normal  conditions  of  1618 ;  settlement  of  the  Imperial 
constitution,  abolition  of  the  election  of  a  king  of  Rome ; 
acknowledgment  of  the  right  of  the  States  to  form  foreign 
alliances  ;  indemnification  for  France  and  Sweden.  Hesse 
and  Ragoczy  were  to  give  up  intervention  in  the  quarrel 
between  France  and  Spain.  The  Emperor  declined  to 
accede ;  for  meanwhile,  after  the  battle  of  Allerheim,  the 
French  had  disappeared  from  Bavaria,  Torstenson  had  gone 
northwards,  and,  as  the  war  in  1646  was  carried  on  feebly, 
and  without  any  decisive  result — though  Bavaria  did,  in  its 
distress,  come  to  terms  with  France  and  Sweden — the 
Emperor  would  give  no  binding  promises.  After  the  death 
of  Gallas,  the  imperial  army  was  commanded  by  Holzapfel, 
the  Protestant  Hessian.  So  far  had  the  religious  war 
deviated  from  its  purpose. 

In  the  year  1648  the  imperial  arms  were  so  persistently 
pursued  by  misfortune,  that  delay  was  no  longer  possible. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year,  Bavaria  and  Bohemia  were 
overrun  by  the  enemy.  In  May,  Holzapfel  was  beaten,  and 
fatally  wounded,  near  Zussmarshausen  ;  every  attempt  to 
hold  the  Lech  for  the  Bavarians  and  Imperialists  had  been 
fruitless ;  Konigsmark  had  entered  the  country,  and  in  July 
had  taken  possession  of  part  of  Prague ;  then  came  the 
victory  of  Conde  over  the  Imperialists,  in  the  Netherlands, 
near  Lens,  in  August. 


END  OF  THE  WAR.  545 

With  great  difficulty,  John  of  Werth  had  just  arrived,  to 
endeavour  to  regain  some  ground  in  Bavaria,  and  especially 
to  liberate  Munich,  when  the  news  of  peace  came. 

The  Emperor  had  at  length  conceded,  as  the  basis  of  the 
religious  peace,  the  amnesty,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
exiles,  reserving  the  exceptions  in  favour  of  his  hereditary 
dominions.  His  father,  Ferdinand  II.,  would  scarcely  have 
agreed  to  it  even  then.  In  order  to  extirpate  heresy,  he 
had  made  Germany  and  the  Hapsburg  countries  a  desert ; 
yet  heresy  was  not  extirpated.  He  had  died  in  February, 
1637,  just  before  Bernhard  of  Weimar  began  his  triumphant 
course,  and,  following  in  his  footsteps,  French  co-operation 
thrust  itself  upon  Germany  in  full  view  of  the  general  con- 
flagration which  Ferdinand's  fanaticism  had  ignited.  Now, 
even  as  in  1637,  he  would  have  opposed  every  attempt  at 
reconciliation,  but,  happily  for  Germany,  he  was  dead. 
His  son  had  grown  up  during  the  troublous  times  of  war, 
was  personally  less  rigid  in  his  ideas  than  his  father,  and 
now,  when  the  course  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  nearly 
run  out,  he  consented  to  that  which,  had  it  been  honestly 
conceded  thirty  years  before,  would  have  kept  the  peace. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

THE   PEACE   OF  WESTPHALIA. 

T^HE  general  course  of  the  transactions  and  the  alterna- 
tions of  the  parties,  are  best  seen  in  the  provisions  of 
the  treaty  itself. 

On  all  purely  political  questions,  Sweden  and  France 
kept  faithfully  together.  Whenever  the  object  was  to  limit 
the  power  of  the  Hapsburgs,  to  strengthen  that  of  the 
principalities,  to  represent  the  rights  of  the  exiled  princes, 
but  also  to  treat  the  empire  as  an  indemnification  for  them- 
selves, they  were  like  hand  and  glove.  Until  the  seventh 
decade  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Sweden  and  France 
were  closely  allied  in  these  endeavours,  greatly  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  Germany. 

But  in  religious  matters  it  was  otherwise.  Sweden  and 
France  were  the  leaders  of  opposite  parties.  Sweden  was 
the  mouthpiece  of  the  Protestants  and  of  every  Protestant 
interest.  There  is  no  doubt  that  we  owe  many  beneficial 
regulations  to  the  attitude  taken  by  Sweden.  France  was, 
of  course,  on  the  other  side.  It  was  for  her  interest  that  the 
Protestant  princes  of  Germany  should  not  be  annihilated,  for 
they  were  the  natural  enemies  of  Spain  and  the  Hapsburgs; 
but  it  was  by  no  means  her  interest  to  allow  Protestantism  so 
to  increase  that  it  might  become  dangerous  to  the  creed  of 
France.  Though  she  did  not,  therefore,  ally  herself  with 
the  Emperor,  she  did  with  Bavaria,  and  it  was  now  that 
those  relations  were  first  entered  into  with  this  state  which 
have  repeatedly  earned  for  it  the  honourable  title  in  France 
of  "our  oldest  ally  in  Germany."  Maximilian  of  Bavaria 
was  the  first  German  prince  who  proposed  the  cession  of 
Alsace  to  France. 

This  was  the  curiously  disjointed  way  in  which  the  most 


THE  PEACE  CONGRESS.  547 

important  parties  at  the  congress  were  grouped.  Sweden 
secured  the  adhesion  of  all  Protestant,  France  of  all 
Catholic  elements ;  but  the  Emperor,  both  on  religious 
and  political  questions,  had  all  parties  against  him,  or,  at  any 
rate,  none  for  him.  His  plenipotentiary,  therefore,  could 
not  assume  the  position  which  was  strictly  his  master's  due, 
and  all  the  foreign  powers  with  whom  he  had  mediately  or 
immediately  to  transact  business  met  him  as  the  representa- 
tive of  a  foreign  power,  and  by  reason  of  their  adherents 
in  Germany,  they  were  greatly  his  superiors.  His  con- 
duct, therefore,  betrays  the  insecure  position  of  an  isolated 
party. 

The  peace  congress  at  Miinster  and  Osnabriick  gradu- 
ally became  a  European  one.  The  powers  which  had  not 
taken  part  in  the  war  were  either  present  or  represented, 
and  thus  no  European  matter  was  left  undiscussed,  though 
the  archives  of  the  Peace  do  not  contain  decisions  about 
them  all. 

The  Netherlands  tried  to  obtain  the  recognition  of  their 
independence  by  the  German  empire,  as  did  Switzerland 
also.  The  representatives  of  the  policy  of  the  restoration 
of  ancient  Catholicism,  from  which  even  the  Emperor 
gradually  withdrew,  came  to  the  congress  to  prevent  and 
alter  the  treaty  as  much  as  they  could.  Neither  Spain  nor 
Rome  was  in  a  position  to  hinder  it ;  but  they  protested 
against  its  validity,  which  gave  rise  to  the  express  declara- 
tion in  the  documents  of  the  Peace,  that  no  protest  or 
interference  was  valid,  let  it  come  whence  it  would. 

The  negotiations  continued  till  the  autumn  of  1648. 
The  last  shots  were  being  exchanged  at  Prague  when  a 
messenger  brought  news  of  the  conclusion  01  peace,  on  the 
24th  of  October,  1648.  France  had  treated  with  the 
Emperor  at  Miinster,  Sweden  at  Osnabriick,  and  come  to 
terms.  On  all  essential  points  the  treaties  were  in  unison, 
except  on  those  questions  on  which  the  territorial  interests 
of  France  and  Sweden  diverged. 

How  the  Peace  changed  the  face  of  Europe,  how  the 
fundamental  principle  of  these  peace  transactions,  in  which 
all  the  European  powers  took  part,  completed  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  western  world  from  the  traditions  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  introduced  the  new  era  of  European 
balance  of  power,  we  shall  afterwards  see.  We  will  first 
consider  the  contents  of  the  treaty. 


548  THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA. 

The  points  of  divergence  and  agreement  in  both  treaties 
may  be  thus  grouped  : — Part  of  the  provisions  of  both 
relates  to  temporal  affairs,  cessions,  indemnities,  restorations. 

A  second  part,  and,  in  extent,  the  most  important,  re- 
lates to  religious  and  ecclesiastical  questions,  especially  for 
Germany,  to  the  gist  therefore  of  the  whole  war. 

A  third  part  relates  to  the  imperial  constitution  of  Ger- 
many, to  the  settlement  of  regulations  which  were  intended 
to  determine,  and  did  determine,  the  political  life  of  the 
German  empire  for  more  than  a  century.  A  constitution 
was  formed  for  Germany  which  issued  in  the  Confederation 
of  the  Rhine,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  "  Holy  Roman 
Empire  of  the  German  nation." 

TERRITORIAL  QUESTIONS. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Osnabruck,  Sweden  received  the  whole 
of  Upper  Pomerania  with  the  island  of  Riigen,  of  Lower 
Pomerania,  Stettin,  Gartz,  Damm,  Golnau,  Wollin,  the 
mouth  of  the  Oder  and  the  Frische  Haff,  as  a  hereditary 
fief,  with  all  the  rights  of  a  State  of  the  German  empire ; 
also  Camin  and  Wismar,  and  the  whole  of  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Bremen  and  the  bishopric  of  Verden,  with 
the  exception  of  the  city  of  Bremen,  which  was  to  remain 
free. 

As  Duke  of  Bremen,  Verden,  and  Pomerania,  governor 
of  Riigen.  and  lord  of  Wismar,  the  King  of  Sweden  had  a 
vote  among  the  temporal  princes  in  the  Diet,  a  legal  posi- 
tion in  the  district  directory  and  the  meetings  of  deputies, 
and  the  "privilegium  de  non  appellando  et  supremum  tribunal 
constituent"  belonging  to  princes  of  the  empire. 

This  was  pretty  much  what  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  in 
view  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  Germany,  only  that 
now  a  piece  of  the  North  Sea  was  added  to  indemnity  on 
the  Baltic,  and  dominion  over  the  Elbe  and  the  Weser  to 
that  over  the  mouth  of  the  Oder. 

The  national  character  which,  in  spite  of  its  loose  consti- 
tution, the  German  empire  had  up  to  this  time  tolerably 
well  mantained,  was  now  lost,  and  replaced  by  a  European 
one.  Until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  no  less  than 
six  European  princes  were  members  of  the  empire ;  at  last 
all  the  European  powers  were  represented  in  it,  except 
France,  Russia,  and  Turkey,  and  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the 


TERRITORIAL  QUESTIONS.  549 

empire  that  these  were  not  in  it  also.  The  merit  of  having 
proposed  the  reception  of  the  Sultan  belongs  to  a  German 
politician.  Peter  the  Great  once  had  a  project  of  becoming 
a  member  of  it,  and  it  was  suggested  to  France  at  the 
congress ;  but  she  did  not  desire  it.  Louis  XIV.  did  after- 
wards wish  it  at  one  time,  that  he  might  hold  his  reunions 
still  more  conveniently,  but  consoled  himself  with  the  idea 
that  it  was  better  as  it  was.  If  he  were  in  the  empire  the 
incorporation  of  Alsace  would  only  be  more  difficult ;  it 
was  not  easy  to  detach  it  from  its  fealty  to  the  empire ; 
being  outside  it,  he  could  simply  ignore  the  decrees  of  the 
Diet,  and  do  as  he  pleased. 

When  the  question  arose  about  admitting  France,  the 
Protestants,  for  the  first  and  last  time,  were  at  one  with  the 
Emperor ;  they  joined  in  opposing  it. 

The  European  character  of  the  empire  caused  the  rotten 
body  to  hold  together  longer  than  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  its  constitution.  In  the  wars  with  Louis  XIV. 
England  especially,  repeatedly  stood  up  for  the  old  German 
empire ;  and  the  fact  that  a  revolution  of  this  wonderful 
structure,  within  and  without,  was  a  European  question, 
caused  its  vegetative  existence  to  be  spared  by  all  conserva- 
tive powers  as  much  as  possible.  But  it  could  not  be  a 
healthy  existence  that  required  to  be  so  ingeniously  kept 
together. 

The  following  were  the  terms  agreed  upon  at  Miinster 
with  France  : — 

The  district  of  Burgundy  shall  be,  as  before,  a  country 
of  the  German  empire,  after  the  settlement  of  the  disputes 
between  France  and  Spain.  But  should  disputes  arise  in 
future  between  these  two  powers,  they  shall  not  affect  the 
treaty  between  the  King  of  France  and  the  German  empire 
as  such ;  but  the  individual  states  shall  be  free  to  help  one 
side  or  the  other,  "extra  imperil  Unities,"  though  only  in 
accordance  with  the  imperial  constitution  (^  secufldum  im- 
peril constitutionem  "). 

The  empire  therefore  lost  the  right  of  interfering  for 
Burgundy  as  a  member  of  the  empire  ;  but  the  individual 
States  were,  in  a  given  case,  to  be  permitted  to  unite  with 
the  enemies  of  the  empire,  "beyond  the  boundaries,  but 
within  the  constitution  of  the  empire."  The  anarchy  esta- 
blished by  treaty,  of  the  new  constitution  cannot  be  more 
strikingly  portrayed  than  in  these  words.  A  time  came 


550  THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA. 

when  all  Western  Germany  was  on  the  side  of  France,  and 
helped  to  protect  her  in  her  conquests.  This  was  a  com- 
mentary on  this  article. 

The  supreme  authority  "  supremum  domininm  iura 
snperioritatis  aliaque  omnia"  over  the  bishoprics  of  Metz, 
Toul,  and  Verdun,  was  to  be  conferred  on  the  French 
Crown,  and  they  were  to  be  incorporated  with  it  for  ever — 
"  eique  incorporari  debeant  in  perpetuum"  Up  to  this 
time  the  possessions  of  these  bishoprics  had  been  only  an 
actual  one,  not  legally  acknowledged ;  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia made  the  robbery  legal.  Pignerol  was  ceded. 
Emperor  and  empire  renounced  all  their  rights  and  those  of 
the  House  of  Austria  over  Breifach,  the  Landgraviate  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Alsace,  the  Sundgau,  the  prefectures  of 
the  ten  imperial  cities  (Hagenau,  Colmar,  Schlettstadt, 
Weissenburg,  Landau,  &c.)  in  favour  of  France,  but  with  a 
reservation  of  all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  these 
places  had  previously  received  from  Austria.  France  was 
to  have  the  right  of  garrisoning  Philippsburg ;  the  rest  of 
the  imperial  cities  were  to  retain  the  immediate  connection 
with  the  Holy  Roman  empire  which  they  have  hitherto 
enjoyed,  "in  ea  libei-tate  et  posses  stone  immedietatis  erga 
iinpcrium  romanum,  qua  hactenus  gavisi  sunt,"  the  German 
fortresses  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  Rhine  to  be  demo- 
lished. 

The  boundaries  of  France,  therefore,  were  advanced  to 
the  Rhine,  the  defence  of  the  German  frontier  as  far  as 
Philippsburg,  which  served  the  French  as  a  iete  du  pout, 
destroyed. 

The  mode  of  cession  was  purposely  full  of  contradic- 
tions. 

The  constituent  parts  of  the  empire  ceded  to  France, 
— that  is,  the  ecclesiastical  rulers,  who  still  partly  resided 
here,  the  imperial  nobles,  and  ten  imperial  cities,  were  not 
to  suffer  any  diminution  of  their  rights  and  privileges  under 
French  rule,  were  to  retain  their  direct  connection  with  the 
empire,  were  to  be  subject  to  the  imperial  courts ;  in  short, 
they  were  still  to  be  members  of  the  empire,  but  with  the 
reservation  that  it  should  be  without  prejudice  to  the  rights  of 
France  ("  ita  tamen  ut  prcesenti  hac  dcclaratione  nihil  de- 
tractum  intelligaiur  de  eo  supreini  Dominii,  iure,  quod  supra 
tonccssum  esl "). 

In  the  very  nature  of  things,  such  ambiguous  regulations 


TERRITORIAL  QUESTIONS.  551 

were  sure  to  give  rise  to  all  sorts  of  disputes.  The  German 
empire  appealed  to  its  expressly  reserved  rights,  France  to 
the  clauses  by  which  her  sovereignty  was  secured.  The  power 
of  France  finally  decided  the  matter.  Actual  incorporation 
with  France  was,  doubtless,  intended  to  be  averted  by  these 
articles ;  but  their  meaning  was  not  defined  sharply  enough, 
and  it  required  more  power  to  enforce  its  claims  than  the 
German  empire  possessed. 

Louis  XIV.  preferred  not  to  be  a  member  of  the  empire, 
because  had  he  been  so  he  must  have  submitted  to  its 
decrees,  and  would  have  been  hampered  in  his  schemes. 
He  had  only  to  put  his  own  construction  on  the  articles  as  a 
foreign  power,  and  practically  to  complete  the  incorporation. 
During  the  following  wars  and  treaties  of  peace  these  ques- 
tions were  always  coming  under  discussion,  and  it  was  in 
the  very  nature  of  things  that  they  were  always  decided  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  empire. 

The  many-headed  empire,  with  its  tedious  transactions, 
was  confronted  by  a  power  that  never  for  one  moment  lost 
sight  of  its  aims,  never  let  a  favourable  opportunity  slip, 
and  was  always  the  stronger  party. 

The  internal  conformation  of  Germany  was  settled  on 
the  basis  of  the  general  amnesty,  to  which  Hapsburg,  after 
long  resistance,  had  agreed. 

"  All  hostilities,"  says  the  document,  "  that  have  taken 
place  from  the  beginning  of  the  late  disturbances,  in 
any  place,  of  whatever  kind,  by  one  side  or  the  other,  shall 
be  forgotten  and  forgiven  ;  so  that  neither  party  shall  cherish 
enmity  or  hatred  against,  nor  molest  nor  injure  the  other  for 
any  cause  whatsoever,"  &c. 

From  this  followed  the  unconditional  re-instatement  in 
their  previous  position  of  all  who  had  been  driven  from 
their  country  and  subjects,  or  deprived  of  offices  or  digni- 
ties, house  or  home,  during  the  war. 

Bavaria  retained  the  Electorate  and  the  Upper  Palatinate, 
but  had  to  renounce  its  claim  of  thirteen  millions.  The 
Palatinate  received  an  eighth  Electorate  and  the  Rhenish 
Palatinate  back  again.  The  official  posts  in  the  Bergstrasse 
were  restored  to  Electoral  Mayence.  The  line  of  Simmern 
was  re-instated.  Wiirtemberg,  with  Mompelgard,  Baden- 
Durlach,  Nassau,  Solms,  Isenburg  Sayn,  Waldeck,  Hohen- 
lohe,  Erbach,  and  many  others,  were  restored. 

The  restitution  extended  also  to  all  persons  in  civil  and 


552  THE  PEACE   OF  WESTPHALIA. 

military  service  :  "  a  summo  ad  infimum,  ab  infimo  ad 
summum"  as  it  is  stated  in  the  documents.  This  was  one 
of  the  disputed  points,  and  the  Emperor  took  care  that  it 
should  not  be  carried  out  without  exception.  It  might  do 
in  Germany ;  but  in  the  Austrian  hereditary  dominions  the 
case  was  different. 

Bohemia  was  almost  depopulated,  as  a  result  of  the  re- 
action. Instead  of  four  million  inhabitants,  there  was  now 
scarcely  one  million,  and  some  of  the  best  subjects  of 
Catholic  Hapsburg  had  taken  possession  of  the  estates  of 
the  banished  Protestants. 

To  have  ordained  unconditional  restoration  to  the  pre- 
vious state  of  things  in  this  case  would  have  been  to  make 
the  existing  government  of  Austria,  the  dynasty  itself,  im- 
possible. To  have  restored  to  its  property  and  rights  the 
party  which  had  been  doomed  to  destruction,  and  which  for 
thirty  years  past  had  been  fighting  under  various  colours 
against  Austria,  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  House  of 
Austria  and  its  newly-founded  dominion. 

In  the  German  empire  the  restitution  simply  meant  the 
restoration  of  Protestant  lands  to  Protestant  masters ;  but 
in  Austria  the  whole  state  of  things  introduced  by  the 
Restoration,  which  had  lasted  for  nearly  thirty  years,  would 
be  upset,  and  all  the  hostile  elements  would  be  in  the 
ascendant  again. 

The  "  amnestia  perpetiia"  therefore,  was  construed  in  a 
very  limited  sense  in  the  Austrian  dominions.  As  Austrian 
subjects,  the  Protestants  were  permitted  to  return,  without 
damage  to  "person,  life,  reputation,  or  honour;"  but  they 
forfeited  the  ancient  privileges  of  which  they  had  boasted 
as  a  party.  Estates  which  they  had  lost  before  going  over 
to  the  hostile  party  were  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  their 
present  owners ;  but  those  that  were  lost  later,  through  the 
act  of  joining  the  Swedes  or  French,  were  to  be  restored. 

In  every  country  of  Germany  there  are  traces  of  the 
exile  of  the  Bohemian  aristocracy  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 
In  going  through  the  names  of  the  noble  families,  Bohemian 
names  may  be  found  even  in  the  furthest  north.  Those  of 
Boyen  and  Gneisenau  are  among  them. 


RELIGIOUS   AND  ECCLESIASTICAL  QUESTIONS.    553 

RELIGIOUS  AND  ECCLESIASTICAL  QUESTIONS. 

The  basis  of  the  religious  peace,  and  the  principle  of 
equality  between  the  creeds,  were  more  unconditionally  and 
distinctly  defined  than  in  1552-5.  The  treaties  of  that  period 
were  confirmed,  and  an  interpretation  put  upon  them  which 
was  to  be  of  unquestionable  validity,  against  which  neither 
protest  from  nor  interference  by  the  imperial  or  ecclesiastical 
power  was  to  avail  anything — "nan  attenta  cuiusvis  seu 
Ecdesiastiti  seu  Politici,  intra  vel  extra  Imperium  quocunque 
tempore  interposita  contradictione  vel  protestatione  qua  omnes 
inanes  declarantur"  This  was  aimed  at  the  protests  to 
be  expected  from  Spain  and  Rome,  accustomed  as  they 
were  to  protest  against  everything  connected  with  religious 
toleration. 

In  all  religious  questions  complete  equality  was  to  exist 
between  electors,  princes,  states,  and  individuals  ("  cequal- 
itas  exacta  mutuaque"),  each  is  to  allow  what  seems  right 
to  the  other  ("  ut  quod  uni  parti  iustum  est,  alttri  qiioque  sit 
iustum  "),  and  every  kind  of  violence  is  for  ever  forbidden 
between  the  parties. 

This  principle,  honestly  carried  out,  was  worth  making 
great  sacrifices  for,  and  it  was  more  comprehensive  than 
before  ;  for  it  included  not  only  Catholics  and  Lutherans 
but  also  the  Reformed  party,  to  whom  liberty  and  equality 
was  now  expressly  granted.  Toleration  was  also  expressly 
promised  to  those  who  should  hereafter  change  their 
religion. 

It  was  more  difficult  to  calculate  on  the  results  of  this 
principle  as  applied  to  ecclesiastical  restitution.  The  con- 
sistent thing  would  have  been,  and  it  was  demanded  by  all 
the  Protestants,  to  recur  to  the  state  of  things  before  the 
war;  but  that  would  affect  the  Austrian  dominions  as 
deeply  as  the  amnesty;  it  would  involve  restoring  Bohemia, 
Moravia,  Upper  and  Lower  Austria,  to  the  condition  oi 
1618.  The  Emperor,  therefore,  was  as  determined  against 
restitution  in  this  sense  as  against  the  amnesty,  and  all  that 
was  attained  was  that  Silesia  should  remain  as  it  was. 

The  question,  therefore,  was  to  find  a  normal  year  for  the 
restitution  which  should  satisfy  both  parties.  The  Pro- 
testants demanded  1618;  but  the  Catholics  rejected  it. 
For  them  it  would  have  been  to  put  all  the  results  of  the 
religious  war  in  doubt  again,  and  they  demanded  1630, 


554  THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA. 

which  was  the  year  most  favourable  to  them,  as  it  was  after 
the  Edict  of  Restitution,  and  before  Gustavus  Adolphus  had 
gained  any  victory  of  importance.  But  this  was  strongly 
opposed  by  the  Swedes  and  Protestants,  and  after  a  long 
dispute  they  came  to  a  medius  terminus,  for  which  there 
was  nothing  to  be  said,  either  on  logical  or  historical 
grounds  ;  they  divided  the  twelve  years,  thus  arriving  at 
1624.  The  Protestants  could  content  themselves  with 
this,  if  it  obliged  the  Austrian  hereditary  dominions  to  be 
given  up. 

So  it  was  decided  that  for  ecclesiastical  possessions  and 
rights,  as  a  whole  and  in  detail,  the  ist  of  January,  1624, 
should  be  the  criterion.  What  was  at  that  time  a  Protestant 
or  Catholic  institution  should  remain  such  in  future.  Eccle- 
siastics who  change  their  religion  shall  give  up  their  offices, 
but  "  honore  famaque  illibatis." 

The  ecclesiastical  right  of  election  shall  remain  unlimited, 
and  the  preces  primarice  of  the  Emperor,  annats  and  pall 
money  in  Protestant  bishoprics  shall  be  abolished.  The 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  prelates  elected  by  the  adherents 
of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg  shall  be  immediately  installed 
by  the  Emperor. 

The  mediate  ecclesiastical  possessions,  without  exception, 
shall  remain  to  the  Protestants,  as  on  the  ist  of  January, 
1624. 

Knights  of  the  empire  and  imperial  cities  shall  have  the 
same  privileges  as  the  superior  states  of  the  empire,  and 
for  them,  also,  the  ist  of  January,  1624,  shall  be  the  criterion 
of  restitution. 

The  mediate  states  of  the  empire  shall  be  protected  in 
their  creed,  and  the  intolerant  principle,  "  aiius  regio  eius  re- 
ligio"  given  up;  but  at  the  same  time  the  sovereign  rights  of 
the  immediate  states  in  religious  matters  were  granted  with 
a  regulation  calculated  to  occasion  some  anxiety  ("  nulli 
stptui  immediato  ius  quod  ipsi  ratione  territorii  et  stipe)  ioritatis 
in  negotiis  religionis  competit,  impediri  oportcre"}.  Still,  it 
was  expressly  stated  that  the  Protestant  subjects  of  Catholic 
states,  who,  in  1624,  "whether  by  treaty,  privilege,  long 
usage,  or  only  by  observance,"  shall  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  using  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  shall  retain  it,  together 
with  its  "appurtenances;"  that  is,  the  institution  of  con- 
sistories, ministers,  schoolmasters,  right  of  patronage,  &c. 

Those  who  have  been  molested  shall  be  reinstated — of 


RELIGIOUS  AND  ECCLESIASTICAL  QUESTIONS.   555 

course  reciprocally.     The  Catholic  subjects  of  Protestant 
States  shall  receive  the  same  privileges. 

During  the  war,  as  the  armies  moved  hither  and  thither, 
new  congregations  had  been  formed  in  various  places  of 
adherents  of  one  creed  or  the  other,  with  whom  the  year 
1624  had  as  little  to  do  as  with  those  who  should  hereafter 
change  their  creed.  It  was  settled  that  "  their  rulers  of  a 
different  creed  shall  tolerate  them  patiently,  that  they  shall 
be  at  liberty  to  have  domestic  worship  without  molestation, 
to  attend  'the  public  services  of  their  persuasion  in  the 
neighbourhood  whenever  they  like,  and  to  send  their 
children  to  foreign  schools  of  their  profession."  Had  this 
article  been  honestly  kept  to,  we  should  have  had  little 
more  persecution  to  complain  of  on  account  of  differences 
of  religion. 

The  treaty  goes  on  to  say,  "  No  one  of  any  party  shall 
look  askance  at  any  one  on  account  of  his  creed ;  nor  shall 
any  one  be  excluded  from  the  communes,  guilds,  corpora- 
tions, inheritance,  legacies,  hospitals,  or  the  distribution  of 
alms,  nor  be  deprived  of  honourable  burial." 

But  this  was  more  easily  said  than  done.  If  any  one  wishes 
to  emigrate,  or  is  induced  to  do  so  by  his  ruler,  he  may 
do  so  without  molestation,  and  without  prejudice  to  his 
property ;  he  may  either  alienate  it,  retain  it,  or  have  it 
managed  by  another.  This  was  specially  intended  for  the 
Austrian  and  Silesian  Protestants.  The  Emperor's  subjects 
in  Silesia,  and  the  counts,  barons,  and  nobles  in  Lower 
Austria  were  not  to  be  compelled  to  emigrate.  They  had 
not  been  able  to  agree,  it  was  added,  upon  further  con- 
cessions, "  on  account  of  the  opposition  of  the  imperial 
plenipotentiaries."  Sweden  and  the  Protestant  States  re- 
served to  themselves  the  right  of  interceding  with  the 
Emperor  on  the  subject  at  the  next  Diet. 

No  one  shall  in  any  wise  dispute  the  treaty  ("  concionando 
docendo,  disputando,  scribendo,  consulendo  "),  nor  meddle  with 
the  treaties  of  1552  and  1555.  Disputes  .shall  be  referred 
to  the  Diet. 

At  the  ordinary  meetings  of  the  deputies  of  the  empire 
the  number  of  deputies  of  each  religion  shall  be  equal.  In 
extraordinary  commissions  for  the  settlement  of  disputes, 
Catholics  or  Protestants,  or  both,  shall  be  represented 
according  to  the  religion  of  the  disputants.  Religious 
questions  shall  not  be  decided  by  majority  of  votes. 


556  THE  PEACE  OF   WESTPHALIA. 

An  early  Diet  shall  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  Court  of 
Judicature ;  besides  the  judges  and  four  presidents,  two  of 
whom  were  to  be  Protestants,  the  assessors  were  to  be 
increased  to  fifty,  of  whom  the  Catholics  were  to  appoint 
twenty-six,  the  Protestants  twenty-four. 

To  the  article  which  declares  the  equality  of  the  Reformed 
party  is  added,  "  But  except  the  above-mentioned  religions, 
no  other  shall  be  admitted  or  tolerated  in  the  holy  Roman 
empire." 

In  the  eighteenth  century  this  clause  was  enforced  against 
the  Pietists. 

POLITICAL  REGULATIONS. 

The  important  political  changes  which  resulted,  first  from 
the  European  and  then  from  the  religious  character  of  the 
empire,  have  already  been  partially  noticed.  The  aristo- 
cracy of  the  rulers  and  cities,  which  forms  the  essential 
feature  of  the  future  constitution  of  Germany,  is  already 
stamped  upon  it. 

Article  8  contains  the  transfer  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
empire  to  the  States  and  their  sovereign  pleasure.  They  enjoy, 
so  it  runs,  the  right  of  voting  in  all  transactions  relating  to 
the  affairs  of  the  empire,  especially  the  enactment  of  laws, 
questions  of  war,  peace,  treaties,  taxation,  levies  of  soldiers, 
&c. ;  and  without  their  consent  no  important  business  can 
be  decided.  To  every,  even  the  smallest  regulation  the 
consent  of  the  three  Courts  is  required.  The  right  of  form- 
ing alliances  with  foreign  powers,  for  its  own  support  and 
safety,  is  expressly  granted  to  every  individual  state,  so 
long  as  they  are  not  entered  into  against  the  Emperor,  the 
empire,  and  the  public  peace,  but  consistently  with  the 
oath  which  every  one  has  taken  to  the  Emperor  and  the 
empire  ("  ita  tamen  ne  eiusmodi  f&dera  sint  contra  Impera- 
torem  et  Imperium,  pacemque  eius  publicam  vel  hanc  imprimis 
transactionem,  fiantque  salvo  per  omnia  iuramenlo  quo  quisquc 
Imperatori  et  Imperio  obstrictus  cst "). 

The  last  vestige  of  sovereignty  which  had  been  preserved 
in  the  rickety  German  constitution  was  destroyed,  and  all 
that  appertains  to  the  essential  character  of  a  State  dis- 
tributed among  the  members  of  the  republic  of  the  States. 

This  completely  deprived  the  empire,  as  such,  of  its 
power.  It  was  almost  impossible  with  this  constitution  to 


POLITICAL  REGULATIONS.  557 

decide  great  and  urgent  questions.  The  empire  might  be 
ruined  while  the  three  Courts  of  the  Diet  were  coming  to  an 
agreement  on  a  complicated  question.  The  article  by 
which  the  right  of  forming  alliances  was  conferred  on  every 
State  contained  within  itself  the  dissolution  of  the  empire. 
All  subsequent  separate  alliances  were  entered  into  "  for 
the  sake  of  German  liberties,"  and  with  a  reservation  of 
loyalty  to  the  Emperor  and  empire ;  even  the  confederation 
of  the  Rhine  maintained  that  it  was  formed  from  great 
regard  for,  and  boundless  loyalty  to  the  German  empire. 

And  this  hampering  organization  was  inflicted  on  a  cor- 
porate empire  which  had  suffered  considerable  losses  both 
in  the  north  and  south — besides  Alsace,  Pomerania,  &c., 
Poland  was  sacrificed,  Belgium  loosened,  Switzerland  with- 
drawn from  the  imperial  jurisdiction  —  and  it  was  sur- 
rounded on  two  sides  by  powerful  neighbours. 

This  was  the  end  of  the  great  revolution  which  had  been 
raging  in  Germany  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  That  it 
put  the  finishing-stroke  to  the  already  rotten  constitution 
was  the  least  of  the  evil ;  a  blow  was  struck  by  it  at  the 
nation  itself,  its  prosperity,  and  the  foundations  of  its 
existence,  from  which  it  took  generations  to  recover.  The 
descriptions  of  the  misery  inflicted  by  this  war  everywhere 
in  Germany  are  heartrending.  The  conduct  of  the  soldiers 
towards  the  defenceless  citizens  and  peasants,  their  wives 
and  children,  was  so  horribly  barbarous  that  it  seemed  to 
be  their  object  literally  to  destroy  the  whole  population. 
The  power  of  the  armed  over  the  unarmed  was  exercised 
with  bestial  ferocity.  It  is  said  of  the  Imperialists  that 
they  baked  the  poor  people  in  ovens,  roasted  them  before 
the  fires,  put  out  their  eyes,  cut  strips  from  their  backs,  cut 
off  arms,  legs,  ears,  noses,  breasts,  and  set  pitch  on  fire  on 
their  living  bodies.  Just  the  same  things  are  reported  of 
the  Swedes  after  their  degeneracy  after  the  battle  of  Nord- 
lingen.  The  "  Swedish  drink,"  manure-water,  poured  down 
the  throats  of  the  poor  wretches,  was  their  invention. 

The  depopulation  and  devastation  of  the  country  was 
fearful.  Especially  in  the  south  and  west,  Germany  was  a 
wilderness  of  ruins  ;  places  that  were  formerly  the  seats  of 
prosperity  were  the  haunts  of  wolves  and  robbers  for  many 
a  long  year.  It  is  estimated  that  the  population  was 
diminished  by  twenty,  by  some  even  by  fifty  per  cent.  The 
population  of  Augsburg  was  reduced  from  80,000  to 


558  THE  PEACE   OF  WESTPHALIA. 

18,000;  of  Frankenthal,  from  18,000  to  324  inhabitants. 
In  Wiirtemberg,  in  1641,  of  400,000  inhabitants  48,000 
remained;  in  the  Palatinate,  in  1636,  there  were  but  201 
peasant-farmers  ;  and  in  1648,  but  a  fiftieth  part  of  the 
population  remained.  In  Hesse,  17  towns,  47  castles,  and 
400  villages  were  burnt;  in  Bavaria  alone,  in  1646,  more 
than  100  villages  were  ruined;  and  in  Wiirtemberg  8  cities, 
45  villages,  and  36,000  houses. 

The  measures  which  were  necessary  to  bring  the  wilder- 
ness into  cultivation  again  are  indicated  by  the  decrees  of 
the  Palatinate  of  that  period.*  Whoever  repaired  old  houses, 
was  exempt  from  taxes  for  two  years  ;  whoever  built  new 
ones,  for  three;  whoever  brought  waste  lands,  devastated 
places  and  vineyards  into  cultivation  again,  for  one,  three, 
six  years. 

Here,  as  everywhere,  the  most  extraordinary  exertions 
were  necessary  to  restore  order  and  civilisation  after  the 
devastations  of  the  war.  But  it  was  not  the  mission  of  the 
empire  ;  that  was  condemned  to  inaction  ;  but  of  the  in- 
dividual states  who  now  entirely  freed  themselves  from 
their  loose  connection  with  it,  and  whose  independent 
efficiency  was  now  severely  tested. 

In  reviewing  the  situation  of  Germany  as  a  whole,  the 
best  criticism  of  the  new  circumstances  is  contained  in  a 
pamphlet  published  in  Brandenburg  in  1658.!  "  Our  noble 
country  has  been  fearfully  spoiled  in  the  name  of  religion 
and  liberty ;  we  have  sacrificed  our  blood,  our  honour,  and 
our  names ;  and  all  that  we  have  attained  for  it  is,  that  we 
have  made  ourselves  the  servants  of  foreign  nations,  and 
made  masters  of  those  whose  names  were  almost  unknown 
to  us.  What  are  the  Rhine,  the  Weser,  the  Elbe,  and  the 
Oder,  but  the  captives  of  foreign  nations  ?  What  are  our 
liberties  and  our  religion  but  things  for  others  to  play 
with?" 

The  part  of  the  German  Empire,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  was  played  out.  At  home  it  was  superseded  by 
the  acknowledged  sovereignty  of  the  ruling  princes,  the 
nobles,  and  the  cities ;  abroad  it  was  thrust  aside  by  the 
new  position  of  two  ambitious  powers  who  had  begun  to 
lay  the  foundations  of  their  greatness  at  its  expense.  The 
Swedish  power  was  established,  as  projected  by  Gustavus 

•  Hiusser,  Geschichte  der  rhein.  Pialz,  ii.  585.        f  Droysen,  iii. 


POLITICAL   REGULATIONS.  559 

Adolphus,  as  an  empire  surrounding  the  Baltic  and  even 
ruling  a  portion  of  the  North  Sea.  It  was  a  power  which 
it  needed  much  hostile  talent,  and  still  more  stupidity  on 
its  own  part  to  ruin. 

France  had  acquired  a  similar  position  in  the  west :  dur- 
ing the  war,  by  the  skill  and  rigid  consistency  of  her 
diplomacy,  she  had  made  her  way  out  of  great  internal 
difficulties,  and  with  but  little  sacrifice  she  had  secured  a 
rich  booty,  which  offered  a  prospect  of  still  greater  gain  ; 
her  army  also  had  experienced  a  discipline  which  was  not 
lost  in  ensuing  times. 

But  the  power  which  the  German  and  Spanish  Haps- 
burgs  had  wielded  since  the  times  of  Charles  V.  and 
Philip  II.,  and  for  which  they  contended  for  the  last  time 
during  this  war,  was  now  thrown  entirely  into  the  back- 
ground by  their  two  more  fortunate  rivals.  Spain  was 
thoroughly  disabled,  and  the  authority  of  the  Emperor  in 
the  empire  reduced  to  a  shadow.  The  essence  of  that 
which  had  been  desired  bv  Chemnitz*  a  year  before  the 
peace — that  Austria  might  be  constitutionally  thrust  out  of 
the  empire — was  accomplisl  ed. 

The  mediaeval  order  of  the  European  world  was  over ; 
the  union  which  once  more  took  place  between  Imperialism 
and  the  Papacy  to  oppose  church  reform  was  for  ever  at  an 
end.  An  era  begins  of  national  consolidated  governments, 
with  a  new  policy  both  foreign  and  domestic.  For  both 
these  tendencies  France  became  the  standard  in  the  spirit 
inaugurated  by  Richelieu. 

*  Hippolithus  a  Lapide,  de  ratione  status  in  Imperio  Germanico. 
1647. 


PART  XII. 

COMPLETION  OF  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

THE   REFORMATION     OF    THE     PROTESTANT    CHURCH   UNDER 
EDWARD   VI.,    I547-53- 

The  inheritance  of  Henry  VIII.—  Character  of  .he  young  King. — The 
first  Protector,  Edward,  Duke  of  Somerset,  1549. — The  second 
Protector,  Earl  of  Warwick,  Duke  of  Northumberland,  1553. — 
Character  of  the  Church  Reform,  Bible,  Catechism,  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  Abolition  of  the  Mass,  Celibacy,  &c. — The  Catholic 
reaction  under  Mary,  1553-8. — Abolition  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Laws  of  Edward  VI.,  and  first  acts  of  revenge. — Marriage  with 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  1554. — The  question  of  Church  Property. — 
Parliament  and  the  Laws  concerning  Heresy. — The  Ordeal  by  fire 
of  English  Protestantism. — The  untenable  position  of  the  Govern- 
ment after  the  loss  of  Calais  and  the  breach  of  the  Constitution.* 

THE  REFORMATION  UNDER  EDWARD  VI. 

WHAT  was  attempted  by  Henry  VIII. was  not  in  any- 
wise   a   Reformation,  but   a   wanton   experiment  of 
autocratic  absolutism. 

*  Camden,  Annales  rer.  Angl.  regn.  Elisabetha,  1675,  f°l-  Collec- 
tion of  State  Papers,  left  by  Cecil  Lord  Burleigh,  1740.  Letters  of 
negoc.  of  F.  Walsingham,  1655,  fol.  Forbes,  Public  Transactions. 
Townshend,  Proceedings  of  the  four  last  Parliaments  of  Elizabeth, 
1680.  Birch,  Memoirs  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  1754.  Lucy 
Aikin,  Memoirs  of  the  Court  of  Elizabeth,  1818.  Turner,  History  of 
the  reigns  of  Edward  VI.,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth,  1829.  Neal,  History 
of  the  Puritans,  1723.  M'Crie,  Life  of  John  Knox,  1839;  Whitaker. 
Mary  Stuart  Vindicated,  1787.  Benger,  Memoirs  of  Mary,  1823. 
Raumer,  Elisabeth  und  Maria  Stuart,  1836.  Mignet,  Histoire  de 
Marie  Stuart,  1850.  Ranke,  Englische  Geschichte,  vol.  i.-vii.,  1859-68. 
Weber,  Geschichte  der  akatholischen  Kirchen  Englands. 


CONFUSION   BEQUEATHED   BY   HENRY   VIII.      561 

From  motives  of  a  very  various  character  he  had  reduced 
the  ancient  Church  to  ruins,  united  the  monarchy  and  the 
Papacy  in  one  person,  but  retained  the  worship,  the 
doctrines,  and  the  hierarchy  of  the  Romish  Church.  Al- 
though the  most  determined  opponent  of  the  Curia,  he  was 
no  less,  from  first  to  last,  the  declared  enemy  of  Luther ; 
but  what  his  subjects  were  to  be,  if  they  wished  to  escape 
being  hanged  as  rebels  or  burnt  as  heretics,  it  was  not  easy 
to  say.  If  a  man  was  a  Catholic,  he  was  sent  to  the 
scaffold  because  he  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy  ; 
if  a  good  Lutheran,  he  was  burnt  because  he  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  mass,  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  &c. 

The  untenableness  of  the  new  position  lay  in  the  fact 
that  it  was  not  based  on  any  fixed  principles,  but  depended 
on  the  will  of  a  relentless  despot ;  it  could  not  therefore  be 
permanent.  It  was  easy  to  foresee  that  at  his  death  the 
structure  of  Church  order  raised  by  this  monarch  would 
fall,  for  the  arm  would  be  wanting  that  held  it  together. 

It  was  long  doubtful  whether  England  would  be  Pro- 
testant or  Catholic  ;  but  that  the  present  state  of  things 
would  not  last,  and  did  not  deserve  to  last,  was  obvious  to 
every  one.  It  was  also  evident  that  this  distraction  of  men's 
consciences  must  at  length  become  insupportable.  People 
were  called  Catholic,  and  then  again  heretical  Protestants ; 
and  were  in  fact  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 

To  add  to  all  the  other  confusion  bequeathed  by  Henry 
VIII.,  the  succession  to  the  throne  was  entirely  doubtful. 

At  the  time  of  the  King's  death  there  was  no  doubt  that 
his  only  son  was  his  lawful  successor  ;  but  if  he  should  die 
early,  as  soon  afterwards  happened,  the  question  was  not  so 
simple. 

By  his  first  wife,  the  unfortunate  Catharine  of  Aragon, 
Henry  had  one  daughter,  Mary ;  and  in  the  opinion  of  all 
unprejudiced  persons  she  was  the  King's  legitimate  child. 
But  her  mother's  marriage  with  the  King  had  been  officially 
declared  illegal. 

The  second  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn  did  not  last  long, 
and  the  only  issue  was  another  daughter,  Elizabeth.  On 
doubtful  testimony  her  mother  was  accused  of  all  sorts  of 
unchastity,  and  condemned  by  the  same  corrupt  votes 
which  served  the  King  in  all  these  odious  transactions. 
She  died  upon  the  scaffold ;  her  offspring  therefore  could 
not  be  considered  legitimate. 

o  o 


562  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

The  third  marriage  was  with  Jane  Seymour,  the  only  wife 
who  was  not  made  wretched  by  her  union  with  Henry,  for 
she  died  in  childbed,  and  had  not  to  drink  the  cup  of  his 
humours  to  the  dregs. 

The  fourth  marriage  with  Anne  of  Cleves  scarcely  deserves 
the  name,  so  short-lived  and  fugitive  was  the  connection. 
The  fifth  wife,  Catharine  Howard,  seems  really  to  have 
been  guilty  of  adultery.  The  sixth,  Catharine  Parr,  the 
widow  of  a  nobleman,  maintained  a  tolerable  understand- 
ing with  the  King ;  but  as  she  had  suspicious  leanings 
towards  Protestantism,  it  is  probable  that  she  would  have 
been  got  rid  of  on  account  of  theological  scruples  had  the 
King  lived  much  longer. 

Out  of  this  family  history  arose  most  of  the  convulsions 
by  which  England  was  torn  during  the  second  half  of  the 
century,  especially  the  conflict  between  the  two  queens 
— Mary  Stuart  and  Elizabeth,  the  Catholic  and  the  Pro- 
testant. 

The  Seymour  family,  from  whom  on  the  maternal  side 
the  young  King  Edward  VI.  was  descended,  gathered 
round  him  in  order  to  reign  in  his  name,  for  he  was  only 
ten  years  old.  From  all  that  we  know  of  the  King  it 
appears  that  he  displayed  a  good-natured  character,  without 
any  of  the  Tudor  haughtiness  or  despotic  tendencies  ;  but 
he  early  showed  great  weakness  and  delicacy  of  constitu- 
tion. Thus  there  came  to  be  a  government  of  guardians, 
not  by  princes  of  the  royal  family,  but  by  nobles,  who  there- 
fore had  all  the  other  nobles  who  were  excluded  from 
power  against  them.  At  first,  the  King's  maternal  uncle, 
Edward  Seymour,  Duke  of  Somerset,  was  Protector,  a  vain 
ambitious  man,  but  not  without  good  qualities,  which 
endeared  him  to  the  people.  His  own  brother,  Thomas, 
conspired  against  him,  was  subdued,  and  executed  (1549) ; 
then  another  party  was  formed  against  him  under  Dudley 
Earl  of  Warwick,  Duke  of  Northumberland,  who  succeeded 
in  compassing  the  Protector's  fall,  and  in  sending  him  to  the 
scaffold  (1552). 

Taken  altogether,  the  first  Protectorate  was  the  best.  It 
was  not  over-efficient,  its  projects  were  often  much  more 
daring  than  its  performances ;  but  it  was  lenient,  well- 
meaning,  and  popular.  The  Duke  of  Somerset  had  the 
prosperity  of  the  state,  and  the  good  of  the  lower  classes 
sincerely  at  heart;  he  neither  enriched  himself  nor  mis- 


EDWARD   VI.   AND  THE  PROTECTORATE.         563 

used  his  power  by  aggrandising  his  relatives  at  the 
expense  of  the  country. 

With  the  second  Protectorate  came  all  the  evils  which 
cannot  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  first — barefaced  nepotism ; 
the  public  money  was  shamefully  squandered  on  favourites, 
and  there  was  an  attempt  to  secure  the  crown  itself  to  the 
family  of  the  Protector. 

The  most  important  question,  however,  was  what  the 
attitude  of  the  government  would  be  towards  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  the  untenable  policy  of  Henry  VIII.  And  on 
this  point  the  new  government  was  stamped  with  a  sharply- 
defined  character. 

The  young  King  had  been  won  over  to  Protestantism  by 
Cranmer,  and  notwithstanding  his  youth  showed  a  warm 
enthusiasm  for  and  premature  comprehension  of  the  new 
doctrines.  He  had  the  noble  ambition  to  make  his  country 
the  vanguard  of  the  Reformation,  and  to  offer  a  refuge  to 
the  fugitive  professors  of  the  new  creed  in  his  free  island. 

The  Seymours  also  favoured  a  thorough  reformation  from 
conviction.  The  leading  powers  in  England  therefore 
were  Protestant,  and  Cranmer  was  allowed  to  give  the 
supremacy  to  those  doctrines  to  which  he  had  long  been 
devoted  in  secret ;  he  could  now  openly  express  in  dogma 
that  approach  to  Lutheranism  which  he  had  been  obliged 
to  conceal  within  his  own  breast.  A  great  number  of  the 
nobles  were  with  him,  the  King  and  Protector  eagerly  took 
his  part,  Parliament  was  easily  gained  over,  and  thus,  with 
comparatively  little  opposition,  the  traditions  of  Henry  VIII. 
were  set  aside,  the  Church  system  adapted  to  the  conti- 
nental Reformation,  the  Anglican  Church  made  Protestant 
by  authority. 

The  English  Reformation  could  not  be  productive  and 
original.  In  the  constitution  of  the  Church  the  royal 
supremacy  could  not  be  set  aside ;  in  the  doctrines  there 
was  nothing  original  to  oppose  to  Lutheranism.  It  was 
still  a  monarchical-aristocratic  structure,  an  episcopal  hier- 
archy which,  except  that  it  had  a  temporal  head,  was 
Catholic ;  in  the  forms  of  divine  worship  Catholic  and 
Protestant  elements  were  mingled  with  a  preponderance  of 
the  former ;  but  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  were  thoroughly 
Protestant. 

These  changes  were  made  with  prudence  and  tact  ; 
and,  first,  the  policy  of  compulsion  as  it  existed  under 


564  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

Henry  VIII.  was  discontinued.  While  the  government 
appeared  to  be  walking  in  the  steps  of  the  late  King,  they 
entirely  renounced  the  essential  features  of  his  attitude  ; 
while  they  seemed  religiously  to  be  abiding  by  usage,  on 
the  most  important  points  it  was  entirely  changed. 

The  Six  Articles  were  withdrawn  by  act  of  Parliament ; 
as  to  practices,  to  the  omission  of  which  heavy  penalties 
had  been  attached,  such  as  oral  confession,  full  liberty  was 
introduced.  Regular  teaching  of  the  congregation  from 
the  English  Bible,  and  of  the  youth  from  a  purified  cate- 
chism, a  new  liturgy  by  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  the 
administration  of  the  communion  in  both  kinds,  abolition  of 
the  mass  and  of  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  restrictions  upon 
processions,  abolition  of  the  worship  of  images,  and  invoca- 
tion of  saints — with  strict  injunctions  against  image-break- 
ing— were  the  most  important  of  the  religious  innovations. 
The  ruling  powers  were  as  firm  in  their  Church  policy  as 
they  were  weak  in  the  secular  government. 

These  changes  did  not  arise,  as  in  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, from  pressure  from  the  people,  but  were  ordained  by 
authority.  Although  there  was  but  little  opposition,  the 
consent  of  the  masses  was  by  no  means  certain ;  they  un- 
doubtedly liked  the  reforms  much  better  than  the  terrorism 
of  Henry  VIII.,  still  it  was  not  clear  that  they  would  not 
some  day  doff  the  new  garments  as  easily  as  they  had  put 
them  on,  whether  a  future  sovereign  might  not  succeed  in 
undoing  the  work  of  Edward  VI. 

No  reformation  which  had  been  effected  in  this  official 
way  had  hitherto  been  strong  enough  to  set  a  reaction  at 
defiance. 

To  add  to  these  anxieties  which  lay  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  the  second  Protector  had  jealously  to  guard  the 
influence  of  his  family.  Since  the  King's  health  awakened 
fears  of  an  early  death,  he  busied  himself,  in  opposition  to 
the  mandates  of  Henry  VIII.,  in  planning  a  succession  to 
the  crown,  which  should  on  the  one  hand  prevent  a 
Catholic  reaction  under  Mary,  and  on  the  other  secure  the 
crown  for  his  family. 

The  daughters  of  Henry  VIII.  were,  he  considered,  both 
incapable  of  succeeding,  the  marriages  of  their  mothers 
having  been  pronounced  invalid.  Recourse  must  therefore 
be  had  to  the  legitimate  posterity  of  Henry  VII.,  of  which 
there  was  one  princess  whose  claims  bore  precedence,  Lady 


LADY  JANE   GREY.  565 

Jane  Grey,  the  great  grandchild  of  the  first  Tudor,  and 
daughter-in-law  of  the  Protector.  She  was  to  be  proclaimed 
Queen,  with  the  declaration  that  her  accession  would  be  a 
guarantee  of  the  modern  Church  reform,  while  the  Catholic 
reign  of  Mary  would  upset  it. 

The  King  consented  to  this,  excluded  his  sisters  from 
the  throne  and  disregarded  his  father's  injunctions,  for  the 
safety  of  the  Protestant  doctrines  outweighed  everything 
with  him ;  and  he  gave  their  adherents  credit  for  power 
to  maintain  the  good  cause  in  any  struggle  that  might 
ensue. 

On  the  6th  of  July,  1553,  Edward  died  suddenly,  and 
it  now  remained  to  be  seen  which  party  had  the  stronger 
sympathies  among  the  nobles  and  the  people. 

The  Catholics,  of  course,  were  for  Mary,  and  would  have 
been  so  had  her  rights  been  much  more  doubtful  than  they 
were.  All  the  powerful  enemies  whom  Warwick  had  made 
by  his  supercilious  rule  were  against  Lady  Jane  Grey,  and 
the  majority  of  the  Protestants  were  at  least  doubtful 
whether,  for  the  state  of  their  creed  and  at  the  risk  of  civil 
war,  they  should  help  to  upset  a  legitimate  succession. 

The  coup  d'etat  must  have  been  very  skilfully  planned  to 
succeed  against  such  sentiments,  and  it  was  not  so ;  the 
attempt  to  place  Lady  Jane  Grey  on  the  throne,  a  learned 
young  lady,  who  was  never  more  surprised  than  at  the  news 
that  she  was  Queen,  was  from  the  first  miserably  frustrated. 
Mary  had  only  to  show  herself,  some  courageous  adherents 
had  only  to  proclaim  her  Queen,  and  the  opposing  party 
lell  to  pieces;  Warwick  himself  was  eclipsed  by  the  herald 
who  proclaimed  her. 

CATHOLIC  MARY,  1553-58;  BORN  1516. 

This  was  a  most  important  turn  in  the  course  of  events. 
The  question  whether  the  Reformation  ordained  by  autho- 
rity would  stand,  was  still  awaiting  solution.  A  princess 
now  succeeded  to  the  throne  who  undoubtedly  had  decided 
opinions  on  religious  matters.  Whatever  her  sentiments 
might  be  on  other  subjects,  in  religion  she  was  a  strict 
Catholic. 

A  government  ensued  which,  perhaps  without  or  even 
against  her  consent,  began  to  tread  the  path  of  Catholic 
reaction,  which  first  tested  the  vital  power  of  Protestantism. 


566  THE  REFORMATION   IN  ENGLAND. 

Mary's  portrait,  as  drawn  by  English  historians,  those 
only  excepted  who  favour  strict  Roman  Catholic  views,  is 
not  a  very  flattering  one.  The  greater  number  of  them 
speak  of  her  only  as  "  Bloody  Mary."  It  is  perfectly  intelli- 
gible that  the  feelings  of  the  nation,  outraged  by  the  Spanish 
terrorism  under  this  Queen,  should  revenge  themselves  by 
such  a  title  ;  and  Mary  cannot  be  absolved  from  enor- 
mous blood-guiltiness.  Still  it  is  not  fair  to  yield  altogether 
to  this  impression.  On  unprejudiced  psychological  obser- 
vation of  her,  we  find  the  weakness  of  a  woman  which 
deserves  rather  to  be  pitied  than  condemned,  instead  of  the 
wild  fanaticism  of  a  bloodthirsty  character. 

Mary  Tudor  was  now  no  longer  young,  and  had  an  un- 
happy childhood  and  youth  to  look  back  upon.  She  had 
seen  her  innocent  mother  separated  from  her  father  by  a 
party  tribunal,  banished  like  an  intruder  from  the  court, 
supplanted  on  the  throne  by  a  more  fortunate  rival ;  she 
herself  had  been  thrust  into  the  background,  threatened, 
neglected,  ill-used.  Such  things  might  have  left  fainter 
traces  on  a  sprightly  and  vigorous  character,  but  they  were 
inflicted  on  a  person  who  had  an  early  bias  to  melancholy 
and  bigotry. 

The  remembrance  of  her  lot  was  still  further  embittered 
by  the  idea  that  her  mother  had  been  persecuted  for  her 
faith,  and  that  she  herself  had  been  condemned  to  obscurity 
for  the  same  reason.  Her  mother's  misfortunes  and  her 
own  had  begun  with  the  day  when  the  king  broke  faith 
with  the  ancient  church ;  and  the  victory  of  the  rival  was 
at  the  same  time,  in  her  eyes,  a  victory  of  modern  unbelief. 
It  was  not  so,  but  so  it  appeared  to  her.  All  the  bitterest 
experiences  of  her  life  were  connected  with  the  position  of 
affairs  on  religious  questions.  Protestantism  was  not  only 
a  new  doctrine  which  was  opposed  to  her  faith,  but  a  hostile 
principle  which  had  brought  wretchedness  to  her  and  her 
mother. 

She  therefore  hated  the  new  creed,  and  felt  herself  a 
stranger  among  the  people.  She  was  more  Spanish  than 
English,  regarded  the  English  as  accomplices  in  the  out- 
rages against  her  mother  and  her  faith,  and  worshipped 
everything  Spanish.  This  was  another  cause  of  estrange- 
ment. 

Then  she  was  weakly  and  sickly,  and  had  something  of 
the  sour  misanthropy  of  an  old  maid.  This  all  conspired 


QUEEN   MARY.  567 

to  drive  her  to  fearful  deeds,  for  which  an  explanation  must 
be  sought  in  all  the  circumstances  of  her  life  before  they  are 
roundly  condemned. 

It  was  not  that  she  came  to  the  throne  with  her  head  full 
of  evil  intentions.  Many  things  were  rather  brought  about 
by  the  course  of  events  than  ordained  by  her  despotic 
will. 

On  her  accession  she  made  a  declaration  that  the  Pro- 
testants should  not  be  molested  in  the  profession  and  prac- 
tice of  their  religion,  nor  should  compulsion  be  used  in 
matters  of  faith  ;  but  she  forbade  the  use  of  the  offensive 
names,  "  Papist  "  and  "  heretic." 

Perhaps  this  was  only  done  to  allay  the  fears  of  the 
Protestants,  and  to  deprive  the  enemy  of  its  latest  adher- 
ents, for  she  was  no  doubt  resolved  at  heart  to  restore 
Catholicism.  The  first  acts  of  the  new  government  were 
acts  of  revenge.  Northumberland,  whose  behaviour  now 
was  as  cowardly  and  craven  as  it  had  before  been  insolent 
and  ambitious,  was  sent  with  five  accomplices  to  the  scaf- 
fold ;  and  Lady  Jane  Grey  and  her  husband  were  closely 
imprisoned. 

Then  followed  the  measures  for  Catholic  restoration,  and 
the  supremacy  which  Henry  VIII.  had  connected  with  the 
regal  power  came  to  her  aid,  and  still  more  so  the  subser- 
vience to  which  he  had  trained  Parliament  and  the  judges. 
She  filled  all  offices  in  accordance  with  her  views  ;  those 
who  had  suffered  for  their  Catholic  opinions  under  Edward 
VI.  were  re-instated  in  their  posts ;  Bishop  Gardiner 
stepped  out  of  prison  into  the  office  of  chancellor,  and  a 
number  of  eminent  bishops,  who  were  the  pillars  of  Pro- 
testantism, were  dismissed.  The  ministry  was  formed  in  a 
Catholic  spirit,  and  in  a  few  months  the  state  of  official 
England  was  thoroughly  reversed. 

Edward  VI.  had  only  just  made  Protestantism  the  basis 
of  the  government,  and  now  pure  Catholicism  was  lifting 
up  its  head  again.  This  arose  from  the  nature  of  the  Refor- 
mation ;  Henry  VIII.  had  systematically  deprived  it  of  the 
people's  sympathy,  and  during  the  short  reign  of  Edward 
VI.  it  had  not  been  able  to  take  deep  root. 

The  counter  reformation  was  taking  its  course  when  the 
elections  for  the  new  Parliament  took  place.  If  any  defence 
could  be  looked  for  in  England  against  the  arbitrary  govern- 
ment, it  could  only  be  from  Parliament.  It  had  hitherto 


568  THE   REFORMATION   IN  ENGLAND. 

been  fickle,  and  had  had  no  will  of  its  own.  Still  it  held  a 
weapon  in  its  hand  which  might  some  day  be  effectually 
used.  The  retrograde  step  made  itself  felt  in  the  elections, 
for  the  restoration  of  Catholicism  was  represented  in  them  ; 
and  it  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  the  new  Parliament 
was  such  as  it  was  solely  from  government  influence. 

The  first  duty  of  Parliament  was  to  abolish  the  edict 
which  had  pronounced  the  marriage  of  Mary's  mother  in- 
valid. After  the  Queen's  succession  was  an  accomplished 
fact,  the  edict  had  lost  its  significance,  and  it  was  passed 
without  opposition. 

But  it  was  different  with  the  next  proposal,  to  abolish  the 
religious  innovations  of  Edward  VI.  and  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer.  This,  however,  was  also  carried,  though  not 
without  a  sharp  contest.  Public  worship  again  became 
Catholic.  The  doctrines  of  the  Church  were  placed  upon 
their  old  footing,  and  a  wide  breach  made  in  the  work  of 
the  Reformation. 

To  go  further  than  this  did  not  seem  practicable  to  the 
Queen's  prudent  advisers,  among  whom  was  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  So  the  mass  was  introduced  once  more,  the 
Catholic  liturgy  restored  ;  but  the  temporal  headship  of  the 
hierarchy,  the  royal  supremacy,  remained,  though  the  Queen 
would  have  preferred  at  once  to  restore  the  supremacy  to 
the  Pope. 

After  a  long  alienation  from  Rome,  a  sort  of  reconcilia- 
tion took  place,  but  it  is  remarkable  that  while  grateful  for 
the  restoration,  they  thought  it  best  at  Rome  to  moderate 
the  Queen's  zeal.  They  did  not  venture  to  appoint  a  Papal 
legate  immediately.  Among  the  chief  of  those  who  had 
strenuously  opposed  Henry's  innovations  was  Cardinal  Pole, 
who  had  escaped  death  by  flight.  He  was  looked  upon  as 
the  representative  of  exiled  Catholic  England,  and  was 
treated  at  Rome  with  great  favour  and  distinction.  Pope 
Julius  III.  appointed  him  his  plenipotentiary  in  England, 
but  it  was  long  before  the  people  were  supposed  to  be  ready 
lor  his  reception,  and  when  he  returned,  after  thirty  years  of 
exile,  he  belonged  to  the  moderate  party  (a  rare  case  with 
a  refugee),  and  was  soon  in  despair  at  Mary's  want  ot 
moderation. 

The  consequences  of  turning  into  the  paths  of  Catholic 
reaction  soon  developed  themselves.  The  first  Parliament 
might  have  laid  claim  to  some  indulgence  lor  its  compliant 


MARY'S   MARRIAGE   WITH   PHILIP  II.  569 

spirit,  but  the  Queen  thought  it  presumptuous  for  proposing 
her  marriage  with  an  Englishman,  so  she  dissolved  it,  and 
interfered  arbitrarily  with  its  decrees.  The  performance  of 
divine  service  in  the  English  language  was  forbidden ; 
many  thousand  married  clergymen  were  driven  with  their 
wivjs  and  children  from  their  offices,  and  reduced  to  beg- 
gary. Soon  afterwards  a  marriage  scheme  was  formed  in 
the  background  of  which  a  fearful  ecclesiastical  counter 
revolution  was  justly  foreseen. 

That  at  her  age  the  Queen  should  still  entertain  the 
thought  of  marriage  appeared  natural  to  every  one.  It  was 
wished  in  England  that  she  should  marry  an  Englishman, 
and  in  the  highest  circles  and  in  Parliament  the  young  Earl 
of  Devonshire  was  thought  of  as  a  candidate  for  her  hand. 
But  the  daughter  of  a  princess  of  Aragon  would  not  hear 
of  an  Englishman.  She  had  never  had  any  personal 
attachment ;  it  was  not  difficult  to  believe  her  when  she 
told  the  imperial  ambassador  that  she  did  not  know  what 
love  was,  but  that  it  had  always  been  the  secret  wish  of  her 
heart  to  form  a  marriage  with  the  best  Catholic  house,  that 
of  Spain.  The  hand  of  Philip  II.  was  just  then  set  free 
by  the  death  of  his  second  wife,  and  Mary  had  turned  her 
eyes  towards  him.  They  were  already  diplomatically  cast- 
ing about  for  a  wife  for  him,  and  had  been  negotiating  with 
Portugal,  when  it  was  learnt  that  he  would  meet  with  tne 
most  cordial  reception  in  England. 

The  Emperor  was  most  agreeably  surprised  by  Mary's 
communication.  Father  and  son  had  just  suffered  a  great 
defeat  in  Germany  ;  the  connection  with  England  seemed 
to  offer  compensation.  The  marriage  treaty  was  concluded  ; 
Mary  secretly  consented  to  it  in  October,  1553;  but  the 
mere  report  of  it  sufficed  to  set  all  England  in  a  commo- 
tion. Spanish  absolutism  and  the  Spanish  inquisition  were 
already  beheld  transplanted  to  England. 

For  the  first  time  all  parties  were  united  in  their  fears. 
Parliament  spoke  against  the  marriage,  and  was  dissolved. 
It  then  came  to  open  rebellion.  The  nobles,  who  saw  their 
possession  of  Church  property  rather  than  their  faith  en- 
dangered, were  in  a  mutinous  frame  of  mind  ;  outbreaks 
took  place  in  Kent  and  Cornwall.  It  was  difficult  to  say 
whether  the  voices  of  the  Protestants  or  of  the  English 
nation  itself  prevailed. 

The  revolts  of  Wyatt  and  Carew  failed  ignominious)}', 


570  THE   REFORMATION  IN   ENGLAND. 

and  the  results  followed  which  almost  always  ensue  from 
unsuccessful  revolts.  The  Queen  went  still  more  recklessly 
forwards.  She  was  not  cruel  by  nature,  but  after  being 
threatened  with  insurrection  in  her  own  capital,  she  was 
resolved  upon  the  worst. 

In  February,  1554,  fifty  people  were  hung,  and  the  un- 
fortunate Lady  Jane  Grey,  an  amiable,  inoffensive  person, 
entirely  innocent  of  any  share  in  recent  events,  was  brought 
to  the  scaffold  as  a  possible  accomplice,  together  with  her 
husband  and  the  Duke  of  Suffolk.  Elizabeth  was  also 
imprisoned  in  the  Tower,  but  as  nothing  could  be  proved 
against  her,  she  was  soon  set  at  liberty. 

The  marriage  of  Mary  with  Philip  of  Spain  took  place  in 
July,  1554.  The  new  Parliament,  worked  upon  and  intimi- 
dated, had  approved  the  marriage  treaty,  but  it  did  not 
seem  at  all  disposed  to  set  its  seal  to  the  completion  of  the 
Catholic  restoration,  and  was  therefore  immediately  dis- 
missed. King  Philip  was  as  amiable  and  affable  as  his 
Spanish  haughtiness  permitted,  and  acquired  numerous 
friends  among  the  aristocracy  by  showering  pensions  and 
favours  around  him. 

The  Queen,  meanwhile,  impatiently  urged  a  complete 
return  under  the  authority  of  the  Pope.  Her  ecclesiastical 
title,  the  leniency  towards  the  heretics,  to  which  she  had 
been  compelled,  the  spoil  of  Church  property  which  had 
been  begun,  lay  heavily  upon  her  conscience  as  sins  for 
which  she  was  personally  responsible.  However  impolitic 
this  might  be  as  far  as  the  English  crown  was  concerned,  it 
so  much  the  more  proved  the  sincerity  of  her  fanaticism. 
The  Church  property  had  been  unmercifully  cut  up  ;  a  large 
portion  of  it  had  been  seized  by  the  Crown  itself,  and, 
fortunately  for  England,  sold  again  at  prices  so  moderate 
that  the  well-to-do  middle  class  gained  immense  wealth  by 
it.  The  question,  how  to  right  this  wrong  without  commit- 
ting another,  was  a  very  complicated  one.  As  it  is  not 
seldom,  the  case  that  men  find  it  harder  to  surrender  a 
portion  of  their  worldly  goods  than  to  abjure  their  faith,  it 
might  be  expected  that  the  great  majority  would  sooner  put 
up  with  a  return  to  the  mass,  the  papal  supremacy,  and 
even  to  the  laws  against  heresy  than  to  a  demand  for  the 
restoration  of  Church  property. 

It  does  honour  to  the  Queen's  faithfulness  to  her  con- 
victions, if  not  to  her  political  insight,  that  this  was  not  her 


PERSECUTIONS   UNDER   MARY.  57  i 

feeling  —  that  she  would  have  liked  to  restore  her  own 
estates  which  had  fallen  to  the  Crown,  together  with  the 
others ;  but  in  this  view  she  was  entirely  alone. 

No  decisive  progress  could  be  made  in  England  without 
a  dispensation  to  secure  the  forty  thousand  heads  of  families 
in  the  possession  of  the  Church  property  they  had  purchased, 
but  with  it  everything  might  be  attained. 

In  fact,  the  new  Parliament  declared  itself  ready  to  abjure 
its  Protestantism,  and  to  regulate  the  Church  and  her 
doctrine  in  accordance  with  the  Pope's  pleasure  if  no  one 
would  interfere  with  the  distribution  of  Church  property, 
and  when  a  pledge  to  this  effect  was  given,  it  consented  to 
render  obedience  to  the  Pope  and  to  renew  the  edicts  against 
heretics.* 

Thus  the  counter  revolution  was  legalised,  and  the  trials 
for  heresy  could  begin.  All  the  more  eminent  foes  of 
Catholicism,  among  them  the  first  names  in  the  nation,  and 
the  stars  of  English  learning,  were  summoned  before  the 
inquisition,  condemned,  and  executed,  not  for  any  guilty 
deeds,  attempts  at  insurrection,  or  for  disturbing  Catholic 
worship,  but  solely  for  theoretical  views  on  religious  ques- 
tions which  differed  from  those  of  Gardiner,  Bonner,  and 
the  rest  of  the  strict  Catholics.  The  intellectual  aristocracy 
of  the  land  was  brought  to  the  scaffold,  and  most  of  the 
victims  met  their  fate  in  a  manner  worthy  of  their  moral 
rank.  During  the  three  years  before  Mary's  death  it  was 
reckoned  that  two  hundred  and  seventy  heretics  were  burnt, 
among  whom  were  fifty-five  women  and  four  children.  One 
of  the  first  victims  was  old  Archbishop  Cranmer,  who  had 
hitherto  managed  to  pass  muster,  but  was  now  thrown  into 
prison  by  his  mortal  enemy,  Gardiner.  By  a  disgraceful 
transaction  he  was  induced  to  try  to  save  his  little  span  of 
life  by  a  recantation,  and  yet  he  was  burnt.  An  odious 
game  was  played  with  the  old  man,  which  outrages  every 
teeling  of  humanity. 

For  Protestant  England  these  days  of  persecution,  in 
which  the  best  blood  of  the  nation  was  spilt,  was  a  time  of 
awakening  and  revival.  Up  to  this  time  it  had  been  the 
custom  to  adhere  in  the  main  to  traditional  views  of  religion, 
but  to  change  their  outward  garb  with  the  changes  of  the 
government. 

•  Ranke,  E.  G.,  i.   27. 


572  THE  REFORMATION  IN   ENGLAND. 

Mary  no  longer  allowed  any  freedom  of  choice.  She  did 
her  best  to  separate  the  chaff  from  the  wheat.  To  set 
against  the  thousands  who  bowed  down  before  each  succes- 
sive government,  there  were  hundreds  who  preferred  death 
to  giving  up  an  iota  of  their  faith.  Indeed,  under  the 
impression  of  the  sublime  contempt  of  death  with  which 
most  of  them  mounted  the  scaffold,  all  the  Protestant  part 
of  the  nation  gradually  became  inspired  with  sentiments  of 
emulative  self-sacrifice  ;  death  lost  his  sting,  the  leaders 
drew  the  multitudes  along  with  them,  and  faithfulness  unto 
death,  which  had  hitherto  been  wanting  to  English  Protest- 
antism, was  given  to  it  by  its  bitterest  enemy. 

If  Protestantism  stood  this  fiery  trial,  it  could  not  fail  to 
become  more  than  it  had  hitherto  been.  No  longer  some- 
thing officially  commanded  or  tolerated,  it  would  be  strong 
enough  to  stand  alone. 

All  that  was  now  wanting  was  that  the  government  in  its 
foreign  policy  should  take  an  anti-national  course,  and  thus 
make  the  sufferings  of  a  party  coincident  with  the  shame 
and  enthralment  of  a  whole  nation. 

This  was  effected  by  the  foolish  part  which  Mary  in  her 
infatuation  was  induced  to  take  in  the  Spanish-French  war. 
The  defender  of  Metz,  Francis  of  Guise,  took  Calais  from 
England,  January,  1558 — the  last  proud  reminiscence  of  the 
time  when  England  ruled  as  lar  as  the  Loire  was  lost, 
because  the  Queen  sided  with  Spain,  and  a  dangerous  mis- 
understanding had  arisen  at  home. 

Pope  Paul  IV.,  the  Pope  of  the  most  rigid  and  relentless 
restoration,  had  reversed  the  decision  of  his  predecessor  on 
the  subject  of  Church  property,  and  demanded  at  least  the 
devolution  of  the  Church  property  in  possession  of  the 
Crown.  Mary,  with  whom  this  was  a  matter  of  conscience, 
appeared  herself  in  Parliament  to  urge  this  act  of  justice, 
and  succeeded  in  carrying  it  by  a  very  small  majority, 
December,  1555  ;  but  the  suspicions  of  the  aristocracy  who 
had  Church  property  in  their  private  possession  could  no 
longer  be  subdued.  To  add  to  this  was  the  unhappy  war. 
Parliament  would  not  grant  any  further  supplies ;  the  Govern- 
ment imposed  arbitrary  taxes,  and  proceeded  with  violence 
against  the  courts  which  sided  with  those  who  refused  to  pay 
the  taxes.  The  Government,  which  persecuted  the  Pro- 
testants as  if  they  had  been  criminals,  with  fire  and  sword, 
trod  also  the  laws  of  the  land  underfoot,  and  sacrificed  the 


MARY'S   DEATH.  573 

national  honour.  Thus  the  idea  arose  that  Protestantism 
and  English  nationality  were  identical,  and  the  Government 
had  reached  that  point  which  Charles  V.  and  Cardinal  Pole 
warned  them  to  avoid  if  they  did  not  wish  that  the  country 
should  be  made  Protestant  by  force. 

General  and  increasing  discontent  prevailed.  If  a  revo- 
lution broke  out,  no  legitimacy  could  protect  the  Queen  ;  it 
would  be  sure  to  succeed.  Just  when  suspense  had  reached 
its  height,  on  the  iyth  of  November,  1558,  Mary  died. 

She  was  quite  forsaken  in  her  latter  days  ;  even  Cardinal 
Pole  no  longer  possessed  her  confidence ;  she  had  only  the 
fanatical  Bonner  now,  as  ever,  on  her  side.  She  died  just 
in  time  to  escape  being  the  victim  of  a  revolution. 

There  was  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  people  as  to  her 
successor.  Mary  had  never  regarded  her  sister  Elizabeth 
with  affection,  and  it  was  not  to  be  expected  of  her ;  but 
the  Protestant  Elizabeth  had,  with  great  prudence  and  no 
small  success,  avoided  everything  which  would  have 
rendered  her  suspicious  in  the  eyes  of  her  sister.  Had  she 
not  done  so,  it  would  have  been  easy  for  Mary  to  have  had 
her  executed  as  a  heretic,  and  thereby  to  have  smoothed  the 
path  of  Mary  Stuart  to  the  throne.  But  Elizabeth  had 
happily  outlived  the  time  of  persecution,  and  was  now  led 
forth  Irom  the  Tower  to  be  seated  on  the  throne. 


CHAPTER   XLII. 

QUEEN    ELIZABETH,    1558-1603. 

Cautions  beginnings. — The  Parliament  of  1559  and  the  Re-establish- 
ment of  the  Anglican  Church. — Beginning  of  the  conflict  with 
Mary  Stuart. — The  Reformation  in  Scotland,  John  Knox. — Man- 
Stuart  in  Scotland,  1561-8. — Darnley. — Rizzio. — Bothwell. — Mary 
Stuart  in  England. — Attitude  of  Rome  and  Spain  against  Eliza- 
beth.—  The  Conspiracies. — Norfolk,  1569-1572.  —  Elizabeth's 
forced  enmity  towards  Rome  and  Spain,  1572-85. — Conspiracy  of 
Savage  and  Babington. — Mary  Stuart's  Trial  and  Execution, 
1586-7. — The  Spanish  Armada  and  Elizabeth's  last  days,  1603. 

CAUTIOUS  BEGINNINGS.     THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1559,  AND 
THE  RE-ESTABLISHMENT  OF  ANGLICANISM. 

QUEEN  ELIZABETH  had  preserved  a  sound  mind 
during  years  of  suffering  and  oppression.  During  the 
five  years  of  Mary's  reign  she  was  watched  by  spies  belong- 
ing to  the  ruling  party,  whose  whole  endeavours  were 
directed  to  surprising  her  in  some  false  step,  so  that  she 
might  be  put  to  death  as  a  conspirator.  She  avoided  all 
their  snares  with  great  dexterity,  and  so  escaped  the  fate  of 
Lady  Jane  Grey.*  Her  lot  had  been  pretty  much  the 
same  as  that  in  which  Mary  imbibed  her  gloomy  misan- 
thropy, but  her  character  was  totally  different ;  she  had 
the  youthful  sprightliness,  the  light  French  blood  of  her 
mother,  just  the  qualities  which  had  captivated  Henry  VIII., 
though  she  had  not  her  mother's  beauty.  Her  sufferings 
had  not  crushed  her  spirit,  nor  disturbed  her  love  of  and 
confidence  in  the  world.  As  triumphant  as  if  she  had  had 
a  happy  life  to  look  back  upon,  she  stepped  from  her  prison 
to  the  throne,  resolved  to  remember  no  longer  that  her  life 

*  For  the  part  taken  in  this  matter  by  Philip  II.  see  Ranke,  i.  293. 


QUEEN    ELIZABETH.  575 

had  been  schemed  against,  to  reign  as  if  she  had  always 
been  treated  as  the  future  Queen.  She  could  associate 
without  constraint,  and  as  if  nothing  had  happened  between 
them,  with  men  who  had  conspired  against  her  life.  It 
was  not  everybody  who  could  have  done  this,  and  after  a 
period  of  bitter  and  bloody  party  conflicts,  had  it  been  for 
this  reason  only,  this  reign  would  have  been  a  blessing  to 
the  country. 

Although  mortally  hated  by  the  Catholics,  Elizabeth  did 
not  hate  them.  On  the  contrary,  it  often  appeared  as  if 
she  was  too  lenient  towards  them.  With  all  her  weak- 
nesses and  bitternesses,  hers  was  a  character  which  people 
could  not  help  liking  in  spite  of  all  her  calumniators.  She 
was  just  what  she  appeared  to  be;  with  her  feminine 
sensitiveness,  her  often  ludicrous  vanity,  and  her  love  of 
homage  and  flatter}',  great  and  regal  qualities  were  united ; 
her  whole  life  was  a  manly  struggle  to  uphold  the  power  ot 
the  State  and  the  national  idea,  and  when  she  had  to  choose 
between  her  personal  tastes  and  fancies,  and  the  great  re- 
quirements of  the  State,  she  never  failed  to  choose  the 
latter.  The  Englishman  is  right  in  holding  his  "  Queen 
Bess  "  in  grateful  remembrance.  She  gave  her  country  fifty 
years  of  domestic  peace,  security,  and  order,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  England's  greatness  ;  not  that  she  did  it  all 
herself,  but  nothing  was  done  in  which  she  did  not  take  a 
decided  part. 

She  did  not,  when  she  began  to  reign  in  1558,  seem 
likely  to  become  the  Elizabeth  she  afterwards  proved  her- 
self to  be — the  pillar  of  Protestantism,  the  opponent  of 
Spain  and  Rome. 

At  first  she  had  neither  inclination  nor  occasion  to  take 
this  part.  Though  not  romantic,  she  was  easily  interested 
in  such  ideas;  she  was  cool,  quiet,  and  reasonable,  not 
without  a  trace  of  cunning  which  often  became  falseness ; 
it  was  her  intention  to  keep  peace  with  all  parties,  and 
Europe  was  chiefly  to  blame  for  the  fact  that  she  afterwards 
diverged  from  this  path.  She  had  at  first  no  other  idea 
than  to  leave  Catholicism  alone,  though  she  intended  to 
grant  the  legal  protection  to  Protestantism,  which  it  had 
to  dispense  with  under  Mary.  Her  first  act  therefore  was 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  bloody  edicts  against  heresy,  and  to 
abolish  the  courts  for  trying  it ;  but  there  was  nothing  else 
that  bore  any  special  Protestant  stamp,  no  declaration  was 


176  THE   REFORMATION   IN  ENGLAND. 

made  that  Catholicism  was  no  longer  the  dominant  religion 
in  the  State,  and  at  this  the  Protestants  who  had  been  per- 
secuted and  oppressed  took  offence. 

This  did  not  arise  altogether  from  the  feminine  tendency 
to  mediate,  where  men  had  quarrelled  ;  there  was  another 
reason  for  it.  Elizabeth  did  not  hate  Catholicism  ;  she  was 
a  Tudor,  and  every  one  who  bore  that  name  placed  a  high 
value  upon  authority,  and  in  the  eyes  of  many  the  Catholic 
hierarchy  was  authority  personified ;  then  the  outward 
pomp  and  consecrated  splendour  of  the  Romish  worship 
was  imposing  to  her  womanish  character. 

Thus  her  first  ecclesiastical  acts  might  be  called  syncre- 
tistic.  She  went  to  mass  because  she  thought  she  owed  it 
to  her  Catholic  subjects  ;  she  even  forbade  the  preaching 
because  of  the  disputes  about  the  pulpits  that  began  to 
arise,  but  in  the  rest  of  the  service  she  permitted  the  use  of 
the  English  language  which  had  been  forbidden  by  Mary ; 
she  took  care,  however,  not  arbitrarily  to  undo  what  Mary 
had  done.  She  did  not  wish  that  it  should  appear  that 
she  was  giving  things  a  one-sided  Protestant  colouring.  It 
was  her  desire  to  be  at  peace  with  Spain,  Rome,  and 
France,  with  all  the  world,  in  fact,  as  well  as  with  her  own 
country. 

Her  first  proceedings  in  religious  matters  are  connected 
with  the  dissolution  of  the  old  Parliament  and  the  election 
of  a  new  one. 

It  was  quite  intelligible  that,  in  1553,  the  popular  voice, 
excited  and  irritated  as  the  nation  was,  should  be  sincerely 
in  favour  of  the  Catholic  party,  and  that  it  should  therefore 
have  the  majority  at  the  elections;  but  it  was  equally  in- 
telligible that,  after  five  years  of  bloody  persecution,  an 
entire  change  should  have  taken  place,  and  that  not  a 
single  Catholic  candidate  was  even  nominated.  There  was 
no  need  for  Elizabeth  to  speak,  the  people  spoke  for 
themselves. 

All  that  Mary's  government  had  achieved  for  Catholicism 
was  the  defection  of  the  nation.  Government  and  Parlia- 
ment now  went  hand  in  hand,  to  restore  the  most  important 
things  which  had  been  abolished  under  Mary,  and  they 
succeeded  with  comparatively  little  resistance. 

The  completion  of  the  national  Church  of  England,  of 
which  the  foundations  had  been  laid  under  Edward  VI., 
was  now  taken  in  hand ;  and  in  all  essential  points  it  re- 


RE-ESTABLISHMENT   OF  ANGLICANISM.          577 

mains  to  this  day  as  it  was  then  built  up,  The  mass  was 
abolished,  the  liturgy  of  Edward  VI.,  and  the  royal  supre- 
macy in  ecclesiastical  matters  restored.  The  new  organiza- 
tion overcame  all  opposition,  and  excluded  every  element 
which,  tending  either  to  Catholicism  or  Calvinism,  held 
opinions  differing  from  its  own.  The  new  Church  un- 
doubtedly comprised  the  greater  part  of  the  nation  ;  but  on 
the  one  hand  there  were  the  Catholics  who  were  excluded 
from  the  government,  on  the  other  the  strict  Reformers  of 
the  Genevan  school,  who  accepted  the  breach  with  Rome 
and  the  Papacy  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  did  not  like  the 
English  hier  \rchy.  Perhaps,  if  votes  were  taken  now,  the 
majority  of  the  nation  would  belong  to  the  opponents  of 
the  Anglican  Church,  but  the  structure  raised  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  is  still  practically  of  great  importance ;  it  is 
based  upon  a  well  organized  and  internally  coherent  ecclesi- 
astical hierarchy ;  it  possesses  very  considerable  power 
through  its  Church  property,  which  though  then  diminished 
has  since  greatly  increased,  a  number  of  seats  in  the  Lower 
House  are  at  its  disposal.*  Through  the  bishops  it  occu- 
pies a  number  of  seats  in  the  Upper  House,  and  is  there- 
by an  essential  support  of  the  aristocratic  constitution  of 
England. 

It  is  possible  to  have  a  great  aversion  to  a  State  Church, 
and  yet  to  be  compelled  to  admit  that  at  that  time,  after 
the  confusion  and  transitions  of  the  last  thirty  years,  it  was 
necessary  to  establish  an  organization  which  should  brave 
all  future  storms.  This  the  English  Church  has  done  ; 
she  has  survived  two  revolutions  and  remains  to  this  day, 
no  longer,  indeed,  exercising  the  same  spiritual  authority, 
but  holding  the  same  political  position  as  she  did  then. 

Elizabeth  did  not  bring  this  project  with  her  ready  made 
to  the  throne ;  but  when  with  a  true  instinct  she  perceived 
the  need  of  it,  she  allowed  the  voice  of  the  people  to  be 
heard,  and  gave  her  sanction  to  what  was  for  their  interest. 

On  these  points  she  allowed  herself  to  be  borne  on  by 
the  voices  and  movements  of  the  people,  and  her  relations 
with  the  different  parties  were  by  no  means  so  sharply 
defined  as  we  commonly  suppose.  We  think  of  her  as  the 
mortal  foe  of  King  Philip  and  the  Papal  Curia,  as  the 
protector  of  the  Netherlands  and  the  Huguenots ;  we  shall 

*  On  this  point  Professor  Hausser  has  evidently  been  misinformed. — Tn. 

P  P 


5?8  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

see  her  afterwards  playing  these  parts,  but  she  did  not 
begin  to  play  them  at  once.  She  still  wrote  to  Madrid  and 
Rome  in  a  tone  of  affection,  and  it  was  only  when  she 
ceased  to  do  so,  that  it  was  remarked  that  she  was  not  a 
legitimate  daughter  of  Henry  VIII.,  that  she  had  no  right 
to  the  throne,  and  that  the  voice  of  Parliament,  which  was 
more  decidedly  on  her  side  than  it  had  been  on  Mary's, 
was  null  and  void. 

The  opposition  to  her  right  to  the  throne  by  all  the  foes 
of  English  Protestantism  and  English  liberties,  gradually 
compelled  her  to  take  up  a  position  of  decided  partisanship, 
which  was  rendered  doubly  bitter  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
coloured  by  personal  intrigues  and  interests.  The  person- 
age who  was  opposed  to  her  as  the  Pretender  to  the  throne 
by  the  Catholic  powers,  who  disputed  her  honourable  birth 
and  her  claim  to  the  throne,  was  her  neighbour  in  Scot- 
land, Mary  Stuart,  who  entered  into  the  contest  with  all  a 
woman's  passion. 

These  two  women  quarrelled  after  the  fashion  of  their 
sex ;  the  one  was  a  frivolous  coquet  who  knew  nothing  of 
self-control,  the  other  did  exercise  it,  though  also  a  sensu- 
ous woman ;  the  one  possessed  all  the  virtues  and  vices 
belonging  to  such  a  character,  the  other,  though  not  free 
from  affected  prudery,  was  sustained  by  a  certain  masculine 
ambition  and  political  greatness  wholly  wanting  in  the 
other.  They  were  complete  contrasts  in  most  of  their 
characteristics,  and  they  could  not  live  together  in  peace 
when  politics  brought  them  in  contact.  Elizabeth  must 
either  subject  herself  to  the  Queen  of  Scotland — that  is, 
renounce  her  throne  and  honour,  or  carry  on  a  struggle 
with  her  for  life  and  death ;  there  was  no  third  course. 

When  Elizabeth  first  came  to  the  throne  no  opposition 
was  offered  by  the  powers  which  afterwards  opposed  her  ;* 
it  was  only  after  the  ecclesiastical  proceedings  that  the 
legitimacy  was  called  in  question ;  at  first  in  whispers,  and 
then  openly  declared  against.  The  same  confusion  of 
ideas  prevailed  which  had  been  employed  against  Mary  on 
the  other  side. 

Those  who  considered  her  mother's  adultery  as  proved, 
might  pronounce  Elizabeth  illegitimate.  Her  sister  Mary 
had  always  treated  her  as  her  father's  legitimate  daughter. 

*  Hausser  appears  not  to  regard  the  Pope's  protest  (Ranke,  i.  301), 
as  it  had  no  immediate  consequences. — E.D. 


RIVALRY  WITH  MARY   STUART.  579 

Mary  Stuart's  right  was  indisputable,  but  it  would  only 
come  into  force  after  the  death  of  Elizabeth  and  her 
heirs. 

Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  Henry  VII.,  first  of  the 
Tudors,  made  a  Scotch  marriage,  and  as  wife  of  James  IV. 
(1513),  became  the  mother  of  James  V.  He  married  Mary 
of  Guise,  a  sister  of  the  Victor  of  Calais  and  the  spokes- 
man of  Trent.  Of  this,  union  was  born  Mary  Stuart,  as 
she  was  called,  to  distinguish  her  from  the  other  Marys 
who  played  a  part  in  her  history.  When  very  young  she 
was  married  in  France  to  Francis  II.,  who  began  to  reign 
in  1559  and  died  in  1560.  It  may  have  been  partly  this 
circumstance  which  prevented  the  Catholic  opponents  oi 
Elizabeth  from  earlier  thinking  of  setting  up  Mary  Stuart 
as  a  pretender  to  the  throne.  It  was  only  really  as  Queen 
that  success  for  the  scheme  could  be  looked  for ;  before 
she  was  Queen,  and  when  she  was  so  shortly  Queen  no 
longer,  there  was  no  prospect  of  it. 

Mary  Stuart  was  a  widow  at  eighteen.  There  was  no 
lack  of  proposals  of  a  second  marriage,  for  her  youth  and 
beauty  and  the  possession  of  the  crown  of  Scotland  made 
her  a  desirable  match.  Philip  II.  knocked  at  her  door  as 
he  did  at  Elizabeth's.  She  did  not,  however,  then  form  any 
second  marriage,  but  followed  the  advice  of  her  uncle,  to 
cross  over  to  Scotland  and  take  possession  of  her  throne. 
Up  to  this  time  the  government  had  been  carried  on  by  her 
mother,  Mary  of  Guise. 

With  Mary's  reign  in  Scotland  the  contest  between  the 
two  Queens  began. 

Mary  assumed  the  rights  of  a  crown  which  were  of  them- 
selves difficult  to  defend,  and  they  had  just  met  with  a 
strong  counterpoise  in  the  Reformation. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  SCOTLAND. 

The  monarchy  in  Scotland  had  always  been  a  limited  one, 
partly  from  the  power  of  the  landed  nobles,  partly  from 
ihe  defiant  and  independent  spirit  of  the  people.  Revolt 
against  the  royal  authority  was  an  everyday  affair.  The  re- 
solve to  rush  into  the  king's  presence  with  pikes  and  guns 
was  accompanied  by  no  more  hesitation  or  pricks  of  con- 
science than  it  was  anywhere  else  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

If  any  of  the  nobles  were  dissatisfied  with  the  Crown, 


580  THE   REFORMATION  IN   ENGLAND. 

they  stirred  up  a  quarrel,  and  followers  were  seldom  want- 
ing among  their  vassals  and  the  people.  To  reign 
amidst  difficulties  so  great  required  a  tact  which  the  Stuarts 
by  no  means  possessed.  Their  arrogance,  their  exaggerated 
idea  of  the  sacredness  of  their  authority,  their  severity, 
capricious  obstinacy  and  unyielding  defiance,  their  pro- 
verbial vacillation  between  despondency  and  presumption, 
totally  unfitted  them  to  be  rulers  of  Scotland. 

King  James  V.  died  on  the  i4th  of  September,  1542,  and 
"  V"  Mary  was  born  only  a  few  days  before  his  death.  There 
was  therefore  no  king  in  Scotland  ;  the  heiress  to  the  throne 
was  a  new-born  babe,  and  her  guardian  was  a  Guise.  This 
happened,  too,  at  a  time  when  that  great  crisis  was  taking 
place  in  the  North  of  Europe,  in  which  everybody  was  either 
engulphed  in  the  reform  movement  or  resolutely  opposed  it. 

Scotland  was  also  affected  by  it,  but  differently  from 
England.  The  Reformation  there  took  a  course  of  its  own. 
In  this  case  it  was  not  the  conflict  of  theological  opinions 
or  national  aversion  to  interference  from  Rome,  but  the 
degenerate  lives  of  the  clergy  which  gave  the  impulse  to  it. 
It  was  not  the  whim  of  the  sovereign,  or  the  shrewd  calcu- 
lations and  political  ambition  of  a  ruler  which  gave  rise  to 
the  breach,  but  the  moral  exasperation  and  love  of  liberty 
of  the  best  spirits  in  the  nation. 

Calvinistic  Geneva  was  the  school  of  Scotch  Protestant- 
ism ;  and  inasmuch  as  Calvinism  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  figures  of  the  age,  Scotland,  its  favourite 
daughter,  claims  a  special  interest. 

John  Knox  (born  1505)  takes  the  foremost  place  in  this 
movement.  With  the  fiery  zeal,  the  rigid  strictness,  the 
gloomy  theocratic  sentiments  of  Calvin,  he  united  the 
unyielding  love  of  liberty,  the  stormy  spirit  of  opposition, 
which  belong  to  his  nation.  A  Calvinist  than  whom, 
Calvin  himself  excepted,  there  never  was  a  more  rigid  one ; 
a  man  of  blameless  purity  of  life,  a  preacher  like  his  master, 
and  filled  with  the  theocratic  zeal  of  an  Old  Testament 
prophet,  he  possessed  the  unconciliatory  radicalism  of  these 
revolutionary  tendencies.  In  his  ideal  of  Church  and 
State  there  was  neither  royal  nor  priestly  supremacy.  The 
priesthood  and  the  clergy  were  to  be  abolished,  the  Romish 
worship  expunged  from  the  earth,  the  ruler  or  nobleman 
who  made  an  ill  use  of  his  rank  should  be  outlawed,  uncon- 
ditional church  reform  was  the  sacred  duty  of  the  commu- 


JOHN  KNOX.  581 

nity,  if  the  rulers  neglected  it,  and  no  pains  must  be  spared 
in  the  execution  of  this  duty. 

Under  the  regency  of  Mary  of  Guise  he  had  been  com- 
pelled to  leave  Scotland.  At  first  he  was  a  convict  in  the 
galleys  in  France ;  then  he  went  to  Geneva,  and  sat  at  the 
feet  of  Calvin. 

On  his  return,  at  the  end  of  1555,  he  began  to  preach 
Calvinism  with  all  its  exclusiveness,  but  also  with  all  its 
energy  and  greatness  of  character.  He  began  by  quietly 
forming  congregations,  to  whom  he  administered  the  Lord's 
Supper  according  to  Protestant  forms.  The  common  bond 
was— no  communion  with  Romish  "  idolatry,"  and  adher- 
ence to  the  word  of  God  unto  death.  In  this  propaganda 
the  example  of  the  mother  Church  at  Geneva  was  first  car- 
ried out  on  a  larger  scale ;  the  principle  of  self-government 
by  self-elected  elders  and  ministers  was  introduced,  and  the 
rigid  simplicity  and  plainness  of  the  Calvinistic  worship 
carried  to  a  fanatical  point.  Knox  went  further  than  Calvin, 
because  he  was  surrounded  by  a  Catholic  State  Church 
which  violently  opposed  every  innovation  ;  and  amidst  the 
irritation  occasioned  by  this  Scotch  Calvinism  assumed  an 
exaggerated  degree  of  rigidity  and  austerity. 

It  was  the  peculiarity  of  Calvinism  that  it  was  more  than 
any  other  phase  of  Protestantism  the  implacable  enemy  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  worship,  and  that  it  was  re- 
presented by  characters  who  personified  it,  from  its  greatest 
features  to  the  minutest  detail,  with  inimitable  onesidedness. 

John  Knox  was  one  of  these  men ;  half  prophet,  half 
tribune,  dictator  to  the  Church,  pulpit  orator,  and  popular 
agitator,  he  carried  his  countrymen  along  with  him  as  no 
one  else  could.  Contrast  this  gloomy  personage,  full  of 
pith  and  marrow,  with  the  bright  Mary  Stuart,  who  was 
just  opening  to  the  pleasures  of  life,  brought  up  in  the 
elegant,  immoral  atmosphere  of  the  French  court,  and  you 
will  have  some  idea  of  the  incongruous  elements  which 
were  soon  to  produce  an  explosion. 

There  was  a  powerful  nobility  in  Scotland,  who  had 
always  looked  upon  the  Stuarts  merely  as  their  equals,  and 
in  the  violence  of  the  government  and  clergy  against  the 
heretical  doctrines  they  saw  a  menacing  assertion  of  the 
royal  authority.  A  great  many  of  the  nobles  adopted  the 
new  doctrines,  which  were  a  pledge  alike  of  religious  and 
political  liberty.  One  of  their  most  zealous  partisans  was 


5^2      THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

one  of  the  Stuarts  themselves.  James  V.  had  seduced  a 
noble  lady,  and  a  son  was  born  who  bore  his  father's  name, 
and  whom  Mary  herself  afterwards  created  Earl  of  Moray. 
The  father's  sin  was  to  be  revenged  on  him.  He  was  a 
gifted  and  passionate  man,  attached  by  conviction  to  the 
new  doctrines,  and  he  was  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  its 
adherents. 

In  March,  1559,  the  Protestant  nobles  demanded  of  the 
Regent  that  the  bishops  should  be  chosen  by  the  nobles  of 
the  diocese,  the  ministers  by  the  congregation,  and  that 
divine  service  should  be  performed  in  the  native  tongue. 
Instead  of  granting  it,  the  clergy  persuaded  the  Regent  to 
let  the  courts  take  proceedings  against  the  heretics.  In 
May,  therefore,  stormy  scenes  took  place. 

John  Knox,  who  had  just  returned  to  Scotland,  preached 
fiery  sermons  against  the  idolatry  of  the  mass  and  the 
worship  of  saints,  and  but  a  slight  impulse  was  wanting  to 
incite  the  masses  to  violence.  In  Perth  an  attack  began 
upon  images,  altars,  monasteries,  and  abbeys,  which  in  a 
few  days  spread  over  a  great  part  of  the  land,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  tumultuous  victory  for  the  Protestant  worship. 
A  number  of  churches  were  dismantled,  about  two  hundred 
monasteries  destroyed,  the  mass  abolished,  and  the  liturgy 
of  Edward  VI.  introduced. 

By  means  of  promises,  intended  to  be  broken  on  the  first 
opportunity,  the  Regent  tried  to  quell  these  disturbances ; 
but  when  French  troops  arrived  in  the  country  it  came  to 
open  revolt.  In  October,  1559,  the  Presbyterian  party 
met  as  the  "  nobles  and  commonalty  of  the  Scotch  Church," 
and  declared  that  the  Regent  had  forfeited  her  office  by  her 
infringement  of  the  constitution. 

The  unity  of  religious  and  political  revolution  had 
become  a  fact,  and  the  preachers  justified  these  proceedings 
from  the  Bible. 

It  was  therefore  political  as  well  as  religious  considera- 
tions which  helped  to  procure  victory  for  the  revolution. 

Elizabeth  was  not  enough  of  a  heroine  of  the  faith, 
and  too  much  of  a  Tudor,  to  lend  a  hand  to  the  rebels 
against  a  legal  government.*  Philip  II.  must  have  re- 
garded the  proceedings  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  as  an 
unpardonable  crime  against  all  that  he  held  sacred  as  a 

*  Compare  the  characteristic  letter  to  Mary  Tudor  of  1556. — 
Raumer. 


MARY   STUART.  583 

ruler  and  a  Catholic,  and  yet  even  he  advised  that  the 
Scotch  should  be  supported  against  the  Regent ;  for  an 
union  of  the  crowns  of  France  and  Scotland  appeared  more 
dangerous  to  him  than  even  the  Calvinistic  heresy,  and  this 
consideration  at  length  prevailed  with  Elizabeth. 

Through  the  aid  of  England  a  treaty  was  concluded  at 
Edinburgh  in  1560,  according  to  which  the  French  troops 
were  to  withdraw.  With  this,  the  last  obstacle  to  the  com- 
plete victory  of  the  Presbyterians  disappeared,  and  Parlia- 
ment could  make  the  Protestant  faith,  the  abolition  of 
episcopacy  and  the  mass  the  law  of  the  land  without 
opposition. 

This  was  the  position  of  affairs  in  Scotland  when,  in  the 
summer  of  1561,  Queen  Mar}',  who  had  been  a  widow  since 
December,  1560,  arrived  in  Scotland. 

MARY  STUART  IN  SCOTLAND. — 1561-68. 

The  Stuarts  are  one  of  the  most  unfortunate  royal  fami- 
lies in  history.  James  I.  and  III.  were  murdered,  James  II. 
was  killed  by  the  bursting  of  a  gun,  James  IV.  fell  in  battle, 
and  James  V.  had  to  submit  to  the  aristocracy.  He  died 
with  the  most  gloomy  forebodings.  When,  on  his  deathbed, 
the  birth  of  his  daughter,  Mary  Stuart,  was  announced  to 
him,  he  said,  "The  kingdom  cam' wi'  a  lass  "  (the  daughter 
of  Robert  Bruce),  "  an'  it  wu'l  gae  wi'  a  lass."  From  the 
circumstances  under  which  Mary  came  to  the  throne,  it 
could  scarcely  be  hoped  that  this  family  misfortune  would 
yield  to  a  better  fate. 

The  country  was  ruled  by  an  austere  fanatical  Protestant- 
ism ;  the  Queen  was  a  zealous  Catholic  ;  a  tone  of  gloomy 
severity  of  morals  reigned  in  the  new  Church.  Mary  was  a 
young,  pleasure-loving  woman,  in  the  heyday  of  life,  and 
came  from  a  luxurious  and  frivolous  court,  which  was 
regarded  by  the  Calvinists  with  horror ;  the  country  had 
ridden  itself  of  the  French  by  force,  and  Mary  was  ac- 
companied by  French  courtiers,  jesters,  and  confessors,  who 
daily  reminded  the  people  that  their  Queen  was  a  foreigner. 

The  days  of  her  reception  were  the  happiest  that  Mary 
spent  in  Scotland.  The  Scotch  have  themselves  described 
how  the  beautiful  young  Queen  was  greeted  by  the  rejoic- 
ings of  the  people.  She  was  a  real  ruler,  after  there  had 
been  a.  regency  for  nearly  twenty  years  ;  but  in  the  solemn 
processions  which  went  forth  to  meet  her  there  were  many 


584  THE   REFORMATION  IN   ENGLAND. 

things  in  the  devices  and  songs  which  breathed  the  Calvin- 
istic  hatred  of  Papal  idolatry. 

Mary  was  soon  to  feel  this  more  keenly.  Zealous 
Catholic  as  she  was,  she  would  have  liked  to  make  her 
creed  once  more  that  of  the  whole  country ;  but  as  it  was 
impossible  even  to  attempt  this,  she  desired  at  least  to  be 
unmolested  in  her  Catholic  domestic  worship  and  the  private 
service  in  her  chapel.  But  the  fanaticism  of  the  all-powerful 
John  Knox  would  not  permit  it.  He  and  his  party  preached 
openly  against  the  heresies  of  the  unconverted  Queen. 
Knox  allowed  himself  to  say  in  his  prayers  in  the  church — 
"  Purify,  O  Lord,  the  heart  of  the  Queen  from  the  poison 
of  idolatry,  release  her  from  the  bondage  of  Satan  in  which 
she  was  brought  up,  and  in  which,  from  want  of  true 
teaching,  she  still  remains."  And  when  mass  was  read  in 
all  privacy  before  the  Queen,  tumults  took  place  in  which 
several  priests  and  persons  about  her  had  their  heads 
broken  and  their  ears  cut  off.* 

Queen  Elizabeth  watched  these  events  with  the  interest 
of  a  person  whom  they  concerned  more  nearly  than  any 
one  else.  From  the  time  when  Mary  first  set  her  foot  upon 
Scotch  soil,  she  found  herself  in  opposition  to  Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth  demanded  the  recognition  of  the  Treaty  of 
Edinburgh,  which  Mary  absolutely  refused.  It  may  easily 
be  imagined,  therefore,  with  what  feelings  she  watched  the 
fate  of  the  Queen  of  Scotland. 

She  took  pleasure  in  her  rival's  self-made  difficulties,  for 
they  lamed  her,  and  while  her  possession  of  the  Scotch 
crown  was  in  the  balance,  she  could  scarcely  think  of 
grasping  at  the  English  one.  She  supported  the  Scotch 
nobles  in  their  opposition,  and  the  Calvinists  in  their 
defiance,  while  in  England  she  kept  both  these  parties 
within  very  circumscribed  limits.  Mary  had  not  given  up 
any  of  her  projects  against  Elizabeth  and  Protestant  fanati- 
cism ;  but  she  took  care  not  to  increase  her  isolation  by 
giving  any  challenge  to  England. 

For  a  time  the  two  Queens  thought  it  well  to  write  the 
most  amicable  and  peaceable  letters  to  each  other ;  but, 
politically,  they  were  entirely  at  variance. 

Meanwhile,  Scotland  was  in  a  state  bordering  on  anarchy, 
in  which  Mary  could  with  difficulty  maintain  her  position. 

*  Even  as  early  as  September  8th,  1561,  a  lew  days  after  her  arrival. 
— Rauraer. 


MARY'S  MARRIAGE  WITH  DARNLEY.        585 

The  barons  and  the  Calvinists  attempted  to  overthrow  her 
Government  with  one  blow ;  but  this  revolt  was  quelled  in 

1563- 

This  convinced  Mary  that  if  she  took  advantage  of  her 
enemies'  mistakes  she  should  be  able  to  maintain  her 
power,  but  that  in  the  present  excitable  state  of  the  people 
she  must  not  expose  herself  to  attack. 

The  life  she  led  was  certainly  not  adapted  to  inspire  the 
Scots  with  respect  fora  crown,  the  value  of  which  depended 
on  the  personal  excellence  of  the  wearer. 

In  her  intercourse  with  men,  she  was  frivolous  to  a  degree 
which  it  did  not  require  Puritanical  strictness  to  think 
repulsive.  In  the  case  of  such  characters,  report  often 
exceeds  anything  that  admits  of  proof;  and  if  more  is  laid 
to  Mary  Stuart's  charge  than  holds  good  under  strict  inves- 
tigation, there  is  so  much  that  is  historical  that  there  is  no 
need  to  add  to  it. 

To  avoid  scandal,  and  to  have  a  support  in  some  man 
against  the  nobles,  she  resolved  upon  a  second  marriage. 

There  were  many  distinguished  Scotchmen — for  a  Scotch- 
man it  was  to  be — who  might  be  proposed  to  her  as  hus- 
bands, and  among  them  were  some  worthy  and  excellent 
men.  But  she  selected  amongst  her  suitors  the  handsomest 
and  most  empty  headed,  her  cousin,  the  Earl  of  Darnley, 
who,  as  Dahlmann  says,  "  was  nothing  but  that  repulsive 
object  called  a  beautiful  man."  Like  her,  he  was  vain, 
superficial,  frivolous,  and  a  flirt,  and  as  cowardly  and 
devoid  of  character  as  a  man  could  be.  He  had  previously 
conspired  against  her,  and  now  joined  her  in  proceeding 
against  the  conspirators.  She  was  not  guided  in  her  choice 
by  any  idea  of  duty  or  political  interest,  but  by  a  fugitive 
sensual  fancy. 

Elizabeth  was  not  inaccessible  to  such  feelings.  She  had 
her  preferences,  and  many  a  man  was  pleasing  to  her  ;  but 
when  she  seriously  entertained  the  idea  of  sharing  her 
throne  with  any  foreign  prince,  she  began  to  consider 
whether  it  would  comport  with  her  national  policy ;  and 
when  an  English  nobleman  was  in  question,  she  did  not 
forget  what  was  implied  in  raising  a  subject  to  the  throne. 
She  flirted  and  coquetted  with  Leicester  and  others;  but 
would  not  permit  any  one  of  them  to  become  her  master. 

Mary  celebrated  her  marriage  with  Darnley  in  July,  1565. 
It  may  be  imagined  how  it  turned  out. 


5-^6      THE  REFORMATION  IX  EXGLAND. 

After  the  first  fleeting  pleasure  was  over,  they  went  their 
separate  ways.  The  King,  who  took  no  pleasure  in  any- 
thing but  coarse  excesses,  soon  joined  a  set  of  lawless 
comrades,  and  they  played  all  sorts  of  pranks,  which  would 
have  been  unpardonable  in  any  one,  and  were  totally 
unworthy  of  a  King.  The  Queen  did  not  conceal  her 
contempt  for  her  husband,  and  they  soon  ceased  to  meet. 
The  only  result  of  this  marriage  was  the  birth  of  a  suc- 
cessor to  the  throne ;  but,  before  the  future  King  was  born, 
the  relations  of  the  conjugal  pair  were  disclosed  to  all  the 
world  by  a  frightful  catastrophe. 

Mary's  favourite  at  that  time  was  an  Italian,  David  Rizzio, 
who  beguiled  her  lonely  hours  with  his  musical  talents ;  the 
King,  probably  quite  unjustly,  called  him  her  paramour — 
not  that  Mary  was  incapable  of  unfaithfulness ;  but  there  is 
no  proof  whatever  except  her  husband's  accusations,  and 
the  relation  admits  of  an  innocent  explanation  :  she  found 
a  companion  and  confidant  in  the  skilful  Italian,  and  in 
many  respects  he  compensated  for  what  she  lacked  in  her 
husband. 

He  sang  well,  and  she  was  fond  of  music ;  he  was  a  skil- 
ful correspondent,  and  she  wanted  one ;  otherwise,  he  was 
not  particularly  likely  to  have  been  the  lover  of  the  Queen. 
It  appears  to  rne  that  he  was  nothing  more  to  Mary  than 
the  secretary  who  carried  on  her  private  correspondence 
with  Rome  and  Madrid,  and  this  was  why  John  Knox  and 
his  party  were  so  furious  against  him.  To  them  he  was  not 
the  Queen's  paramour ;  but  the  Papist  in  the  service  of  the 
Catholic  with  her  plans  of  restoration. 

This  relation — unwise,  imprudent,  but  not  culpable — in- 
flamed the  King's  wrath  and  the  thirst  for  revenge  of  his 
wild  companions.  A  horrible  project  was  formed  of  mur- 
dering the  Italian,  who  during  the  evening  was  generally  to 
be  found  with  the  Queen  in  the  ladies'  apartments.  One 
evening,  in  March,  1566,  the  conspirators  entered  the 
Queen's  apartment,  some  Scotch  lords,  and  among  them  the 
King,  not  courageous  enough  to  strike  the  blow  himself,  but 
base  enough  to  cause  it  to  be  done  by  others.*  Rizzio 
threw  himself  at  the  Queen's  feet,  weeping  like  a  child. 
He  was  dragged  into  an  adjoining  room,  and  dispatched 
with  fifty-six  blows. 

*  According  to  the  French  ambassador's  report  (Raumer)  he, 
Darnley,  struck  the  first  blow. — ED. 


MARY  AND   BOTHWELL.  587 

It  would  have  required  more  than  human  self-control 
in  the  Queen  to  forget  that  it  was  the  man  whom  she  had 
raised  to  the  throne  who  had  committed  this  shameful  deed, 
unexampled  in  history,  before  her  eyes. 

It  was  intended  to  appear  to  the  world  as  a  punishment 
for  adultery ;  thus,  while  Rizzio  was  pierced  by  one 
dagger,  another  was  aimed  at  the  Queen.  She  was  then 
pregnant  with  the  prince,  who  was  born  three  months  after- 
wards ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  this  weakly  creature 
came  into  the  world  at  this  tragical  time.  It  was  ascribed 
to  his  mother's  excitement  at  the  time  of  the  murder  that 
James  I.  could  not  see  a  naked  sword  without  shud- 
dering. 

The  Queen  naturally  entertained  only  thoughts  of  revenge 
towards  her  unworthy  husband ;  but  there  is  a  long  step 
from  these  feelings  of  hatred  to  that  which  really  took  place. 
In  public  opinion,  Darnley  had  nothing  more  to  lose,  but 
the  Queen  had  not  gained  anything.  The  public  feeling 
was  less  favourable  to  her  than  before  this  catastrophe,  and 
the  Calvinistic  preachers  raved  against  her  as  an  adulteress. 

Among  the  men  distinguished  by  the  Queen's  favour, 
there  was  one  remarkable  for  his  rash  daring,  and,  as  it 
appears,  for  his  seductive  talents,  the  Earl  of  Bothwell,  a 
man  who  stood  on  the  boundary  line  between  a  hero  and  a 
captain  of  banditti,  and  it  was  in  the  latter  capacity  that  he 
ended  his  career.  It  was  his  belief  that  no  woman  could 
withstand  him,  and  his  conquest  of  the  Queen  seems  to 
justify  the  idea;  he  also  held  that  the  end  justifies  the 
means.  He  was  a  person  whom  no  one  liked,  but  neither, 
before  the  Queen  favoured  him,  did  any  one  hate  him. 
His  past  life  and  the  history  of  his  marriage  gave  rise  to 
great  calumny,  and  he  was  held  to  be  capable  of  the 
darkest  crimes. 

With  this  creature  the  Queen  entered  into  friendly  rela- 
tions ;  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  her  defenders,  it  is  still 
unproved  that  the  love  letters  to  him  are  not  genuine,  that 
the  scented  French  verses  to  Bothwell  were  not  by  her 
hand.*  So  far  could  the  sensuality  of  this  woman  lead  her 
astray,  that,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  Darnley,  she  fled  into 
the  arms  of  his  murderer. 

The  year  1556  was  coming  to  an  end.  Darnley  and  the 
Queen  had  not  met  for  months.  Darnley  then  fell  dan- 
*  Even  Ranke  considers  them  genuine  in  the  main. 


588  THE   REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

gerously  ill,  and  there  were  all  sorts  of  scandals  as  to  the 
cause  and  nature  of  his  malady,  when  it  was  reported  that 
Mary  was  reconciled  to  Rizzio's  murderer,  had  visited  him 
at  Glasgow,  had  him  brought  near  to  her  palace  at  Edin- 
burgh in  a  litter,  and  nursed  him  devotedly  night  and  day. 
All  this  was  true.  But  on  the  gth  of  February,  1567,  Mary 
was  at  a  court  ball,  and  two  hours  after  midnight  Edinburgh 
was  awakened  out  of  sleep  by  a  terrible  explosion.  The 
house  in  which  the  sick  Darnley  was  lying  was  blown  up 
while  he  was  in  it;  his  body  was  found  in  a  neighbouring 
garden.* 

In  all  Scotland  there  was  but  one  opinion  :  that  this  deed 
was  done  by  Bothwell.  Some  suspected  the  Queen  of  being 
directly  or  indirectly  an  accomplice,  and  her  conduct  before 
and  after  showed  that,  at  any  rate,  she  approved  of  the  act, 
though  perhaps  she  did  not  help  to  originate  it. 

A  storm  of  exasperation  burst  over  the  country.  Both- 
well  was  openly  accused  of  the  murder  by  handbills  in  the 
streets,  and  punishment  was  demanded  for  him  and  his 
accomplices.  The  Queen  gave  a  reward  to  one  of  the  ser- 
vants who  was  openly  accused  of  being  one ;  and,  instead 
of  bringing  Bothwell  to  trial,  she  made  him  commandant  of 
Edinburgh.  In  possession  of  this  dignity,  and  still  a  mem- 
ber of  the  privy  council,  he  conducted  his  own  trial,  appeared 
before  the  court  with  his  accomplices  armed,  and  persuaded 
the  judges,  who  were  all  his  followers,  to  acquit  him.  The 
judges,  so  called,  dared  to  say,  among  other  things,  that  the 
indictment  was  null,  for  it  described  the  murder  on  the 
9th  of  February,  whereas  it  took  place  at  two  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  loth.  A  number  of  members  of  Parliament,  at 
a  jovial  supper  given  by  Bothwell,  even  went  so  far  as  to 
recommend  him,  a  married  man,  as  a  husband  for  the 
Queen. 

Scotland  had  scarcely  recovered  from  the  excitement  of 
the  murder  and  this  disgraceful  trial,  when  it  was  surprised 
by  some  news  which  surpassed  everything. 

It  was  reported  that  Bothwell  had,  with  her  consent,  car- 
ried off  the  Queen  to  his  castle,  and  a  tew  days  afterwards 
that  she  had  married  the  murderer  of  her  husband,  scarcely 
cold  in  his  grave. 

Nothing  can  be  more  disgusting  than  the  lying  part  which 
the  Queen  played  in  this  affair ;  she  allowed  herself  to  be 
•  And  strangled,  so  that  he  had  survived  the  explosion. — Raumer. 


ELIZABETH'S  TREATMENT  OF  MARY.       589 

abducted,  acted  the  part  of  a  prisoner,  and  then  declared 
that  she  had  been  carried  off  by  force,  but  that  Bothwell  had 
behaved  so  well  to  her,  that  she  had  resolved  to  marry  him. 
For  a  woman  of  five-and-twenty  to  be  ready  to  give  her 
hand  to  her  husband's  murderer,  however  guilty  he  might 
be,  was  to  be  sunk  low  indeed. 

The  revolt  now  broke  out  which  overturned  Mary's 
throne,  and  drove  her,  as  a  helpless  fugitive,  into  the  arms 
of  her  rival.  Elizabeth  possessed  neither  magnanimity  nor 
insight  enough  to  let  her  alone,  now  that  she  was  no  longer 
dangerous.  She  did  what  was  neither  noble  nor  prudent : 
gave  her  a  friendly  invitation,  and  then  let  her  languish  in 
prison,  which  only  made  her  dangerous;  for  it  caused  her 
crimes  to  be  forgotten. 

MARY  STUART  IN  ENGLAND. — ROME  AND  SPAIN  TURN 
AGAINST  ELIZABETH. — THE  CONSPIRACIES  —  NORFOLK, 
1569-72. 

It  was  a  strange  resolve  of  Mary's  to  fly  to  England. 
Elizabeth  had  been  pronounced  illegitimate  by  the  Pope, 
and  therefore  incapable  of  reigning ;  the  negotiations  be- 
tween her  and  Mary  as  to  the  succession  in  England  had 
not  led  to  any  result  ;  the  Queen  looked  upon  Mary  as  an 
inconvenient  rival,  the  nation  as  its  bitterest  enemy.  Her 
history  and  reputation  made  it  unlikely  that  a  rebellion  of 
the  Catholics  would  be  excited  in  her  favour  against  Eliza- 
beth. Mary's  resolution,  therefore,  could  only  have  been 
formed  in  a  moment  of  excitement,  and  was  not  based  upon 
any  sound  political  considerations. 

She  was  soon  bitterly  punished  for  it.  She  had  stormed 
Elizabeth  with  letters  ;  she  had  sent  her  complaints  against 
the  Scotch  nobles,  urgent  entreaties  for  help,  assurances  of 
devotion,  and  descriptions  of  her  pitiful  condition,  as  if  she 
thought  that  Elizabeth  could  have  no  other  idea  than  to 
relieve  her  in  her  distress,  to  deieat  her  enemies,  and  replace 
her  on  the  throne  with  English  arms. 

Elizabeth  was  too  much  of  a  Tudor  not  to  disapprove  the 
revolt  of  the  barons  under  Moray;  her  opinions  on  the 
sovereignty  of  rulers  were  almost  as  strict  as  those  of  the 
Stuarts  ;  but  there  was  a  long  way  from  these  sentiments  to 
undertaking  the  restoration  of  Mary. 

The  fugitive  Queen  was  not  received  in  an  unfriendly 


5QO  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

manner.  Elizabeth  allowed  her  to  be  greeted  on  the 
frontier  with  the  honours  pertaining  to  her  rank,  and  accom- 
panied to  Carlisle  ;  but  there  she  was  imprisoned,  and  the 
series  of  Elizabeth's  errors  begins. 

Mary  was  kept  in  a  state  of  mild,  but  well-watched  im- 
prisonment, which  she  felt  all  the  more  keenly,  because  it 
was  pretended  that  she  was  only  watched.  Elizabeth  had 
chosen  a  course  which  was  half  legal,  but  which  could 
neither  conciliate  Mary,  nor  make  her  harmless ;  indeed,  it 
was  just  this  mode  of  imprisonment  which  made  her  dan- 
gerous, for,  for  eighteen  years,  she  was  the  soul  of  a  series  of 
conspiracies  which  only  increased  the  painfulness  of  her  lot. 
It  was  a  spot  on  Elizabeth's  character  that  she  betrayed  the 
confidence  of  an  unhappy  woman  who  sought  her  help,  and 
placed  her  enemy  in  an  attitude  of  self-defence.  Either 
that  which  it  \vas  afterwards  thought  necessary  to  do 
should  have  been  done  at  once,  or  the  world's  reproach 
should  have  been  averted  by  conciliation  and  magnanimity, 
which  would  at  the  same  time  have  rendered  Mary 
harmless. 

Womanlike,  Elizabeth  chose  a  middle  course,  which, 
instead  of  having  the  advantages  she  desired,  had  precisely 
tiie  disadvantages  she  wished  to  avoid. 

Mary  was  enough  under  restraint  to  learn  to  hate  Elizabeth 
as  her  mortal  enemy,  but  enough  at  liberty  to  set  conspira- 
cies on  foot  against  her. 

Elizabeth  had  no  intention  of  re-instating  Mary  upon 
the  throne  of  Scotland,  but  declared  herself  ready  to  do 
so  if  the  conflicting  parties  would  submit  to  her  arbitration, 
and  Mary  should  be  pronounced  innocent  of  Darnley's 
murder;  but  she  absolutely  refused  her  the  desired  per- 
mission to  go  free  to  France  or  Scotland. 

After  this  Mary  knew  where  she  was.  She  wrote  a  proud 
and  queenly  letter  to  Elizabeth,  reminding  her  that  she  came 
to  find  a  helper  in  her,  not  a  judge.  Then  she  turned  to 
the  kings  of  Spain  and  France  for  help  against  the  Queen 
of  England  ;  but  this  step  brought  no  succour.  Philip  II. 
was  prevented  by  the  Moriscoes,  Charles  IX.  by  the 
Huguenots,  and  the  only  effect  of  it  was  to  cause  Elizabeth 
to  remove  the  prisoner  further  from  the  frontier  to  Bolton 
Castle  for  greater  security. 

A  fruitless  attempt  at  arbitration  was  followed  by  the  long 
series  of  plots  and  projects,  the  last  and  greatest  of  which  led 


NORFOLK'S  CONSPIRACY.  591 

to  Mary's  execution.  This  contest  of  eighteen  years  with  her 
rival  and  her  adherents,  and  the  necessity  at  last  of  getting 
rid  of  her,  was  the  consequence  of  Elizabeth's  first  false 
step. 

The  first  conspiracy  proceeded  from  the  House  of  Nor- 
folk and  others  of  the  highest  English  nobles.  The  House 
of  Norfolk  had  distinguished  itself,  partly  at  the  head  of 
affairs,  and  partly  in  the  opposition,  ever  since  the  time  of 
Henry  VI II.,  and  one  of  the  members  of  it  had  played 
such  a  part  as  no  other  English  magnate  has  done.  A 
project  was  now  formed  by  his  grandson  which  would 
have  united  all  the  elements  hostile  to  Elizabeth  under  one 
banner. 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk  had  numerous  adherents  among 
the  Catholics  of  England,  although  himself,  as  he  declared 
upon  the  scaffold,  a  Protestant ;  there  were  advocates  of  his 
cause  in  the  Queen's  council,  Spain  and  France  were  in  his 
favour,  and  he  had  a  project  for  securing  the  crown  of 
Scotland  for  his  family,  and,  alter  Elizabeth's  death,  that  of 
England  also,  by  gaining  the  hand  of  Mary  Stuart.  He 
was  possessed  of  brilliant  talents,  was  skilful  in  gaining 
adherents  to  his  cause,  and  the  past  history  of  his  house,  as 
well  as  the  number  of  his  supporters  among  the  highest 
aristocracy,  justified  him  in  aspiring  to  these  projects.  In 
reality,  indeed,  all  this  was  but  a  web  of  self-deception.  The 
Scotch  scornfully  rejected  his  advances  at  the  first  men- 
tion of  them ;  it  was  as  great  a  folly  to  reckon  upon  Eliza- 
beth's consent  as  upon  help  from  France  and  Spain ;  all 
that  was  certain  v/as,  that  Mary  wrote  him  the  tenderest 
letters,  and  that  some  of  the  English  aristocracy  were  read) 
to  take  up  arms  in  his  favour. 

This  was  Mary's  first  plan  of  rescue.  It  coincided  with 
a  crisis  in  England's  foreign  policy.  Elizabeth  had  detained 
Spanish  ships  which  had  taken  refuge  in  English  harbours 
from  the  Sea-Beggars,  and  seized  the  money  which  the  Duke 
of  Alba  was  eagerly  expecting.  In  revenge,  Spain  had 
made  reprisals,  both  countries  had  declared  war,  and  a 
Spanish  invasion  was  expected.  If  it  came  to  an  irrepar- 
able breach,  Mary  and  all  her  adherents  would  stand 
between  two  fires.  In  order  to  avert  this,  the  conspirators, 
especially  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  the  Earl  of  Arundel, 
laboured  to  compass  the  fall  of  Cecil,  who  was  the  soul  of 
all  measures  in  favour  of  Protesiantism,  and  against  the 


592  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

Catholic  powers.  They  succeeded  not  only  in  this,  but  in 
inducing  the  Queen  to  enter  into  negotiations  for  a  recon- 
ciliation with  Spain  and  Mary ;  but  during  these  negotia- 
tions the  conspiracy  was  betrayed. 

Elizabeth  was  beside  herself  when  she  learnt  what  had 
happened,  and  was  intended  to  happen  among  her  most 
intimate  advisers.  So  long  as  anything  was  hanging  in  the 
balance,  she  vacillated,  and  tried  to  find  resources  in  half 
measures,  not  without  a  certain  duplicity ;  but  at  critical 
moments  her  masculine  and  resolute  presence  of  mind 
never  failed  her,  and  did  not  fail  her  now. 

Mary  was  immediately  placed  in  stricter  confinement  at 
Coventry,  and  in  order  to  be  prepared  against  any  attack  by 
sea,  the  coast  was  guarded  by  seven  of  the  largest  ships  of 
war,  the  land  forces  were  summoned,  and  everything  placed 
in  readiness. 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  seized  with  sudden  faint-hearted- 
ness,  came  to  London  on  a  summons  from  the  Queen,  and 
was  thrown  into  the  Tower.  Meanwhile  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland  and  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland  effected  a 
rising  in  the  north  of  England  ;  the  Catholics  among  the 
nobility  and  people  of  England  joined  them,  and,  preceded 
by  a  figure  of  Christ  crucified,  they  swarmed  over  the 
country,  rushed  into  the  churches,  burnt  the  Bibles  and 
Prayer-Books,  and  again  introduced  the  mass.  The 
Catholic  arms  had  just  been  victorious  over  the  Huguenots 
in  France  :  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  to  be  a  similar  reac- 
tion in  the  north  of  England,  which  might  perhaps  turn  to 
the  advantage  of  Alba  in  the  Netherlands.  But  the  Queen's 
general,  Thomas  Ratcliffe,  confronted  the  rebels  and  routed 
them  without  difficulty.  The  revolt  was  entirely  quelled 
and  the  leaders  had  fled,  when  Pius  V.  hurled  his  ban  ac 
the  heretical  Queen  and  absolved  her  subjects  from  their 
oaths  and  fealty. 

Queen  Elizabeth  answered  this  assault  by  a  unanimous 
vote  of  Parliament,  which  declared  every  attack  upon  the 
legitimacy  of  the  sovereign  to  be  high  treason,  every  assault 
on  the  Anglican  Church  a  crime  against  the  State. 

Meanwhile,  Norfolk,  on  a  solemn  promise  to  renounce  all 
thoughts  of  marriage  with  Mary,  was  placed  in  less  strict 
imprisonment ;  but  the  conspiracy  went  on  and  assumed 
a  very  serious  character.  Besides  the  correspondence  with 
Mary,  there  were  negotiations  with  Spain  and  Rome 


ATTITUDE  TOWARDS   SPAIN  AND   ROME.      593 

carried  on  by  a  Florentine  banker,  Ridolfi,  which  were 
countenanced  by  a  large  number  of  the  nobles.  Norfolk 
promised  to  go  over  to  Catholicism ;  to  place  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  Catholic  conspiracy  to  liberate  Mary  and  dethrone 
Elizabeth;  Spain  promised  a  considerable  number  of  troops. 
Alba  was  of  opinion,  that  unless  Elizabeth's  person  were 
secured,  the  revolt  would  share  the  fate  of  the  last,  and 
that  it  was  not  advisable  for  Spain  to  interfere  until  that 
was  done. 

In  Spain  it  was  greatly  feared  that  the  scheme  for  Eliza- 
beth's marriage  with  the  Duke  of  Anjou  might  succeed,  and 
thus  both  empires  would  be  united  against  Spain.  It  was 
therefore  necessary  before  all  things  to  capture  or  murder 
Elizabeth,  and  in  July,  1571,  Philip  II.  was  discussing  the 
subject  with  his  council,  when  in  England  the  whole  plot 
was  discovered  ;  Norfolk  was  again  in  the  Tower,  and  this 
time  to  leave  it  only  for  the  scaffold,  in  June,  1572. 

This  was  a  death-blow  to  the  aristocratic  party ;  similar 
attempts  were  made  during  the  following  years,  Rome  and 
Spain  did  not  relax  their  efforts,  but  they  did  not  find  suffi- 
cient followers  in  England  ;  by  degrees  Elizabeth  was  forced 
into  the  camp  of  the  irreconcilable  enemies  of  Catholicism. 

ELIZABETH'S  FORCED  ENMITY  TOWARDS  SPAIN  AND  ROME. 

1572-85- 

The  next  few  years  passed  in  perpetual  irritation  with  the 
Catholic  powers,  conspiracies  and  attempts  in  favour  of 
Mary,  and  vigorous  measures  of  self-defence  on  the  part  of 
Elizabeth. 

The  contest  between  the  two  Queens  assumed  more  and 
more  a  character  of  personal  hostility,  and  Elizabeth  became 
more  and  more  convinced  that  she  and  Mary  represented 
•two  great  principles  entirely  opposed  to  each  other.  The 
designs  of  Spain  and  Rome  allowed  her  to  entertain  no 
doubt  of  it,  and  the  continuance  of  the  plots  compelled  her 
to  defend  herself  from  foes  where  she  had  hitherto  sought 
friends,  and  to  look  for  support  in  quarters  where  she  had 
hitherto  met  with  refusals  or  an  attitude  of  indifference. 

Shortly  after  the  Spanish-Roman  scheme  of  getting  rid  of 
Elizabeth,  and  English  Protestantism  was  frustrated  by  the 
execution  of  Norfolk,  came  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew.  France  had  been  suing  for  the  friendship  of 

QQ 


594  TILE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

England,  a  marriage  scheme  had  been  zealously  advocated, 
and  now  came  the  news  of  this  terrible  massacre.  A  cry  of 
rage  and  horror  was  raised  throughout  England  and  Scot- 
land ;  the  aged  Knox,  who  had  one  foot  in  the  grave,  again 
ascended  the  pulpit  to  testify  against  the  horrid  deed. 
Elizabeth  and  her  council  received  the  French  Ambassador 
in  mourning ;  she  told  him  that  France  had  betrayed  her, 
and  that  she  could  but  fear  that  those  who  had  made  the 
King  of  France  the  assassin  of  his  own  subjects,  would 
make  no  difficulty  of  sacrificing  her — a  foreign  Queen.* 

After  this  experience,  it  seemed  to  be  a  necessary  policy 
of  self-defence  for  Elizabeth  to  assist  the  Beggars  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  Huguenots  in  France  to  the  utmost 
of  her  power ;  their  enemies  were  hers  also,  and  reconcilia- 
tion was  no  longer  possible. 

All  this  re-acted  on  Mary's  fate.  Soon  after  the  discovery 
of  the  Norfolk  plot,  it  had  been  openly  said,  that  the  axe 
must  be  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  that  she  who  was  the 
plotter  of  all  this  mischief  must  be  put  out  of  the  way. 
Protestant  theologians  proved  from  the  Bible  that  Mary 
had  forfeited  her  life ;  the  lawyers  referred  to  the  laws 
against  treason  and  revolt,  and  both  Houses  of  Parliament 
desired  that  a  bill  of  attainder  should  be  brought  in  against 
the  prisoner.  Elizabeth  rejected  all  these  demands,  but  it 
was  doubtful  how  long  she  would  be  able  to  do  so. 

Mary's  situation  had  already  become  so  hopeless  that  her 
imprisonment  appeared  like  a  sort  of  protection  against  the 
passionate  revenge  of  the  English  people,  while  her  over- 
zealous  friends  were  always  adding  to  her  misfortunes. 
The  year  1576,  again  brought  to  light  a  great  plan  for  a 
rescue.  The  hero  of  Lepanto,  the  chivalrous  Don  John  of 
Austria,  had  early  conceived  an  enthusiastic  desire  to 
liberate  the  martyr  of  the  Catholic  faith  from  the  hands  of 
the  heretics.  Rome  gave  him  her  blessing  on  a  project  so 
pleasing  to  God.  Catholic  Ireland  hoped  for  a  Spanish 
King.  Mary  offered  him  her  hand,  and  was  ready  to  de- 
prive her  son  of  his  right  to  the  throne,  if  he  were  not  a 
strict  Catholic.  Things  were  more  favourable  to  Mary  in 
Scotland  than  ever,  since  her  most  dangerous  enemies, 
Moray  and  Lennox,  were  out  of  the  way ;  in  short,  if  the 
new  Stadtholder  of  the  Netherlands  could  reckon  upon  his 

*  Migiiet,  ii.  85,  according  to  the  correspondence  of  the  French 
aaihassador,  La  Mothe. — Fenelon,  v.  122. 


BREACH  WITH   SPAIN.  595 

brother  Philip  II.,  if  he  threw  all  his  power  into  the  scale  in 
favour  of  the  plan,  there  would  be  a  prospect  of  an  immense 
change  throughout  the  north.  But  Philip  II.  hesitated,  and 
the  favourable  moment  passed  by. 

This  state  of  secret  warfare  continued  for  years.  There 
was  no  end  to  the  conspiracies  and  schemes  of  invasion  ; 
the  Spanish  Ambassador,  Mendoza,  in  London,  held  the 
threads  of  them  all ;  there  was  increasing  prospect  of  their 
success  from  the  increasing  excitement  in  Scotland,  the 
successes  of  the  Guises  in  France,  the  conquests  of 
Alexander  Farnese,  won  partly  by  the  sword  and  partly  by 
diplomacy ;  everything  pointed  to  an  open  breach  with 
Spain,  which  at  length  took  place.  Elizabeth  dismissed  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Nether- 
lands, and  dispatched  Leicester  with  English  troops  to 
Vliessingen,  and  Francis  Drake  to  the  West  Indies,  1585-6. 
England's  part  in  the  great  conflict  of  the  age  was  irrevoc- 
ably decided  on,  and  sentence  passed  upon  Mary  Stuart. 

TRIAL  AND  EXECUTION  OF  MARY  STUART,  1586-7. 

These  acts  of  Elizabeth  gave  tardy  expression  to  the 
prevailing  feeling  of  the  whole  of  Protestant  England. 
Amidst  continued  threats  of  the  disturbance  of  the  public 
peace,  the  fanaticism  of  the  age,  the  desire  for  religious 
persecution  was  again  awakened  ;  the  people  trembled  for 
the  Queen's  life,  lor  it  was  the  security  of  all  Protestants 
against  Spanish  tyranny,  rejoiced  at  the  execution  of  the 
traitors,  and  were  always  urging  more  decisive  measures. 
Parliament  was  the  organ  of  these  sentiments,  and  required 
rather  the  curb  than  the  spur  ;  Elizabeth  had  much  trouble 
in  restraining  its  zeal. 

But  the  situation,  especially  after  the  beginning  of  the 
eighth  decade,  had  become  so  gloomy  that  it  would  have 
been  intolerable  for  long. 

The  threads  of  some  conspiracy  were  discovered  almost 
every  year,  always  originating  with  the  same  parties  and 
having  the  same  end  in  view — the  liberation  of  Mary, 
the  assassination  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  restoration  of  Catho- 
licism in  England. 

No  end  to  all  this  could  be  foreseen,  for  since  1570 
there  had  been  seminaries  in  Rheiins  and  Rome  established 
by  emigrant  English  Catholics  in  the  interests  of  the  con- 


596  THE   REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

spiracies  against  the  Protestant  Queen  ;  they  bound  them- 
selves by  oath  against  her,  and  every  year  sent  a  number  of 
fanatical  apostles  over  to  the  country.  Parliament  issued 
stringent  decrees,  the  courts  passed  sentences  without 
mercy,  but  they  could  not  uproot  the  evil.  In  1585,  Parlia- 
ment threatened  that  if  another  conspiracy  were  formed, 
the  nation  would  be  justified  in  striking  a  blow  at  the  chief 
author  of  the  mischief,  when  the  last  plot  was  discovered, 
which  made  Mary's  catastrophe  inevitable. 

Philip  II.  and  the  Duke  of  Guise  were  of  opinion  that 
the  time  was  come  for  gravely  entertaining  the  long-pro- 
jected, but  oft-delayed,  scheme  of  invading  England  and 
effecting  a  revolution  in  Scotland  ;  but  they  agreed  that 
there  was  no  hope  of  success  while  Elizabeth  was  living. 
The  murder  of  the  heretical  Queen  must  precede  every 
invasion  of  the  country. 

In  the  circles  of  the  rejected  priests  and  the  Catholic 
nobility,  they  had  long  been  familiar  with  the  idea,  and 
relied  on  the  support  from  abroad  which  Spain  and  Rome 
seemed  likely  to  offer. 

John  Savage,  formerly  an  officer  who  had  fought  under 
Parma  in  the  Netherlands,  and  had  afterwards  been  per- 
suaded in  the  seminary  at  Rheims  that  the  murder  of 
Elizabeth  would  be  a  work  more  pleasing  to  God  and  man 
than  any  other,  and  Anthony  Babington,  an  influential 
gentleman,  undertook  the  conduct  of  the  plot.  The  latter 
took  a  considerable  number  of  persons  of  the  same  way  of 
thinking  into  his  confidence,  and  Mary  Stuart,  now  under 
the  care  of  a  harsh  Puritan  named  Paulet,  was  initiated  into 
the  scheme.  It  has  been  proved  that  she  was  not  only 
acquainted  with  the  details  of  the  project  for  her  own 
rescue,  but  with  the  scheme  for  Elizabeth's  assassination, 
and  that  she  had  no  more  objection  to  the  one  than  the 
other.  It  is  singular  that  the  conspirators,  who  must  have 
known  how  much  they  were  risking,  were  deceived  as  to 
the  trustworthiness  of  their  confidential  agents.  Those 
who  were  intrusted  with  the  most  secret  commissions  were 
in  the  pay  of  Walsingham,  the  most  shrewd  and  wily  of 
Elizabeth's  ministers ;  not  a  despatch  was  written  by  Babing- 
ton or  Mary,  which  was  not  at  once  handed  over  to  him 
and  deciphered  by  one  of  his  agents.  Walsingham  was 
earlier  and  better  instructed  in  all  the  details  than  the 
conspirators  themselves,  and  it  would  have  been  easy  for 


PLOT  OF  SAVAGE  AND   BABINGTON.  597 

him  to  stifle  the  plot  in  the  bud  ;  but  his  plan  was  to  let  it 
go  on  until  there  were  written  proofs  of  unpardonable  com- 
plicity against  all,  and  especially  against  Mary,  and  then  to 
step  in.*  It  may  be  said  that  under  his  fostering  care  the 
conspiracy  assumed  larger  proportions,  the  audacity  of  the 
authors  of  it  increased,  and  all  was  so  arranged  that 
nothing  was  wanting  but  the  attack  and  the  thrust  of  a 
dagger,  to  put  an  end  to  Elizabeth's  life,  when  Walsingham 
appeared  before  her  with  irrefragable  proofs,  and  urged 
those  in  power  to  take  extreme  measures  to  avert  the 
catastrophe. 

The  heads  of  the  conspiracy  fell  unsuspectingly  into  the 
hands  of  his  myrmidons,  and,  overpowered  by  the  proofs  of 
their  guilt,  they  confessed,  and  in  September,  1586,  were 
one  and  all  executed. 

On  the  1 4th  of  October  the  trial  of  Mary  Stuart  began. 
The  act  of  Parliament  of  1585  was  taken  as  the  basis  of 
the  proceedings  whereby  persons  in  whose  favour  a  rebel- 
lion was  attempted,  by  whom  any  attempt  was  made  on 
the  life  of  the  Queen  should  be  deprived  of  their  rights, 
and  if  they  had  personally  taken  part  in  it  should  forfeit 
their  lives.  This  already  pronounced  sentence  of  death  on 
Mary;  and  if  it  had  depended  on  the  nation  alone,  it  would 
have  been  confirmed  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

The  popular  conception  of  the  case  was  simply  this  : 
England  had  enjoyed  years  of  peace  and  quiet  under  a 
happy  and  prosperous  reign  ;  then  a  band  of  assassins  and 
conspirators,  equal  to  any  wickedness,  had  invaded  the 
country,  seeking  to  overthrow  the  government,  to  place  a 
guilty  woman  on  the  throne,  and  to  give  England  up  to  the 
Spaniards  and  Jesuits.  For  eighteen  years  war  had  been 
waged  wich  these  rebels ;  proofs  of  their  guilt  were  now  in 
hand  and  the  leaders  secured ;  the  heads  of  the  instru- 
ments had  been  struck  oft",  as  a  matter  of  course  the 
instigator  mubt  share  the  same  fate. 

When  the  catastrophe  was  inevitable,  Mary  behaved 
with  more  coolness  and  composure  than  she  had  ever  done 
before ;  and  this  explains  the  fact  that  so  many  dark  spots 
have  been  overlooked  in  the  life  of  this  unhappy  woman. 
She  rejected  a  trial,  did  not  at  first  defend  herself  at  all, 
insisted  upon  her  rank  as  Queen,  with  the  emphasis  of  a 
Stuart,  and  played  with  great  dignity  the  part  of  an  inno- 
*  Mi-jnet,  ii.  157. 


598  THE  REFORMATION  IN   ENGLAND. 

cent  person  dying  for  her  faith  and  her  right  to  the  crown. 
The  proceedings  were  informal,  and  showed  that  it  was  less 
a  case  of  a  legal  sentence  than  an  act  of  political  necessity. 

It  was,  in  fact,  as  Robespierre  said  of  the  trial  of 
Louis  XVI.,  "  une  mesure  de  salut  public  a  prendre." 

Elizabeth  was  not  indifferent  as  to  what  the  world  would 
say  of  her  conduct;  and  would  have  fain  appeared  as 
the  magnanimous  person  who  would  have  given  anything 
to  save  Mary,  but  was  compelled  by  the  nation  to  let  the 
law  take  its  course.  But  she  could  not  keep  up  this  appear- 
ance, if  she  gave  her  consent  to  the  execution  of  the 
sentence.  It  would  have  been  a  great  relief  to  her  if  Mary 
had  been  secretly  put  out  of  the  way ;  it  would  have  de- 
livered her  from  her  rival  without  loading  her  with  the 
world's  hatred.  There  is  no  doubt  that  she  expressed  her- 
self cautiously  and  in  a  double-tongued  way  about  the 
execution  of  the  sentence,  thereby  betraying  how  gladly 
she  would  have  shifted  the  responsibility  to  another.  The 
secretary,  Davison,  was  selected  for  this  part,  and  he  was 
not  a  virtuous  hero.  Elizabeth  signed  the  warrant,  but  he 
had  to  affix  the  great  seal.  This  done,  on  the  8th  of 
February,  1587,  the  Council  had  the  sentence  executed. 
Because  Elizabeth  had  not  been  again  consulted  about  it 
just  at  the  last,  as  was  customary,  she  thought  herself 
justified  in  punishing^  the  obedient  Davison  as  the  guilty 
person.  He  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  paid  the  penalty 
for  the  double-tonguedness  of  his  Queen  by  years  of 
captivity. 

THE  SPANISH  ARMADA,  1588,  AND  ELIZABETH'S  LAST 
DAYS. 

The  violent  agitation  of  the  Queen  on  receiving  intelli- 
gence of  the  execution  of  the  sentence  may  be  taken  for 
genuine,  consistently  with  the  supposition  that  after  this 
transient  emotion  there  would  be  a  permanent  feeling  of 
relief  that  the  mountain  of  anxiety  which  had  weighed  upon 
herself  and  her  country  for  twenty  years  was  removed. 

After  February,  1587,  no  conspiracy  was  formed  worth 
mentioning;  the  instigator  of  the  plots  was  gone,  and  if 
ever  an  act  was  justified  by  its  results,  it  was  so  in  this 
instance.  The  people  of  England,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  Catholic  noblemen,  were  in  favour  of  Queen  Mary's 


THE   SPANISH  ARMADA.  599 

death  ;  the  news  of  it  was  received  with  general  rejoicings, 
and  whatever  of  bitter  feeling  there  might  be,  was  soon 
swallowed  up  in  the  terrors  of  the  period  which  immedi- 
ately followed.  It  was  a  piece  of  rare  good  fortune  for 
Elizabeth  that  an  event  which  had  long  been  threatened 
now  took  place,  and  justified  the  extreme  measures  which 
had  caused  her  so  much  anguish  ;  a  great  attack  upon  the 
island  was  preparing  by  Spain,  which  would  have  cut  a 
different  figure  had  Mary  been  still  living. 

Spain  was  equipping  an  immense  fleet  which  was  to 
repeat  the  feat  of  William  the  Conqueror,  to  extinguish  the 
independence  of  England  and  its  Protestantism,  and  at  the 
same  time  carry  out  Mary's  will.  Elizabeth  appeared  so  great, 
so  superior,  so  equal  to  the  people's  expectations  in  this  con- 
test, that,  in  their  eyes,  all  that  was  connected  with  Mary 
fell  into  the  shade,  and  Elizabeth's  character  appeared  in 
the  brightest  colours ;  the  time  of  her  historical  greatness 
begins  in  this  conflict  with  Philip  II.,  "the  shield  of  the 
Christian  republic,"  as  the  Jesuits  called  him. 

In  a  masterly  manner  Elizabeth  took  advantage  of  those 
national  sentiments,  before  which  even  religious  differences 
vanished.  The  English  nation,  with  all  that  it  held  dear, 
was  threatened  with  a  fearful  irruption  of  foreign  barbarism , 
Elizabeth  felt  herself  to  be  one  with  the  people,  and  could 
therefore  reckon  upon  its  best  powers  and  most  noble 
passions. 

Pope  Sixtus  V.  had  excommunicated  her,  and  commis- 
sioned Philip  II.  to  execute  the  sentence  :  a  hundred  and 
fifty  great  ships  of  war,  with  2,620  guns,  8,000  seamen,  and 
20,000  troops  were  embarking  from  Lisbon,  and  Alexander 
of  Parma  was  preparing  for  a  diversion  in  the  Netherlands. 
The  Pope  had  contributed  half  a  million,  and  a  number  of 
priests  and  monks  who  were  at  once  to  begin  the  task  of 
converting  the  heretics. 

Elizabeth  was  never  greater  than  at  the  time  of  this 
terrible  danger,  and  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  it  relieved  her 
from  the  obloquy  of  the  deed  of  1587.  She  was  now  the 
Queen  whom  England  wanted,  and  for  whom  she  had  hoped. 
She  showed  that  she  had,  as  she  told  the  Spanish  ambassador, 
the  body  of  a  woman,  but  the  heart  of  a  man. 

In  the  circles  of  the  Protestant  zealots,  a  scheme  had 
been  formed  of  replying  to  the  declaration  of  war  of  the 
foreign  Catholic  Powers,  by  a  bloody  execution  of  the  native 


600  THE  REFORMATION   IN  ENGLAND. 

Catholics  ;  but  Elizabeth  refused  to  listen  to  it.  She  appealed 
to  the  patriotism  of  the  whole  nation,  irrespective  of  difference 
of  creed,  and  she  was  not  disappointed.  The  expectation 
of  the  allies  of  the  co-operation  of  Scotland  proved  false. 
The  young  King  James  had,  indeed,  bitterly  felt  the  death 
of  his  unfortunate  mother,  but  he  regarded  Elizabeth  as  a 
protection  against  Spain,  and  therefore  joined  her  cause. 

France  remained  inactive,  and  Alexander  of  Parma  was 
not  ready,  so  that  the  prospects  of  the  great  enterprise  were 
less  favourable  from  the  first  than  had  been  anticipated. 

Meanwhile,  Elizabeth  called  her  people  to  arms.  It  was 
the  first  attempt  by  a  government  to  rely  on  the  defensive 
powers  of  its  own  people  and  to  await  the  attack  of  a 
great  military  power  without  trained  soldiers.  It  succeeded 
beyond  all  expectation.  The  country  people  rivalled  the 
great  towns,  with  London  at  their  head. 

In  a  short  time  two  hundred  ships  were  manned  by  15.700 
sailors,  and  in  the  counties,  the  nobles,  both  Protestant  and 
Catholic,  with  their  tenants  and  vassals,  took  up  arms  in 
accordance  with  ancient  usage  ;  76,000  infantry,  and  3.000 
horsemen  were  soon  ready  for  the  conflict.  The  coasts  were 
fortified,  voluntary  contributions  flowed  in  from  all  sides. 
The  people  did  all  they  could  for  the  national  cause,  with 
the  Queen  at  their  head. 

It  was  a  proud  moment,  one  which  a  nation  only  lives 
through  once  in  its  history,  when  Elizabeth,  an  Amazon  in 
armour,  appeared,  in  the  camp  at  Tilbury,  and  thus  addressed 
the  soldiers  as  they  stood  in  rank  and  file  : — "  Let  tyrants 
fear.  I  have  always  so  behaved  myself  that,  under  God, 
I  have  placed  my  chiefest  strength  and  safeguard  in  the 
loyal  hearts  and  good-will  of  my  subjects,  and  therefore  I 
am  come  amongst  you,  as  you  see  by  this  time,  not  for  my 
own  recreation  or  disport,  but  being  resolved  in  the  midst 
and  heat  of  the  battle  to  live  or  die  amongst  you  all ;  to  lay 
down  for  my  God  and  for  my  kingdoms,  and  for  my  people, 
my  honour  and  my  blood,  even  in  the  dust.  I  know  I 
have  the  body  but  of  a  weak  and  feeble  woman,  but  I  have 
the  heart  and  stomach  of  a  king,  and  of  a  king  of  England 
too  ;  and  think  foul  scorn  that  Parma,  or  Spain,  or  any  prince 
of  Europe  should  dare  to  invade  the  borders  of  my  realm, 
to  which,  rather  than  any  dishonour  shall  grow  by  me,  I 
myself  will  take  up  arms ;  I  myself  will  be  your  general, 
judge,  and  rewarder  of  every  one  of  your  virtues  in  the  field." 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA.  6oi 

The  dreaded  conflict  on  English  soil  did  not  take  place. 
Destiny  interposed,  but  the  events  and  impressions  of  this 
time  formed  an  epoch  for  England.  The  enthusiasm  called 
forth  by  them  was  not  easily  forgotten. 

The  Spanish  ships  were  colossal  and  unwieldy.  They  had 
not  the  lightness  of  the  little  English  vessels,  nor  the  sailors 
the  naval  training  of  those  of  England.  The  fleet  which 
embarked  from  Lisbon  on  May  3oth,  15^8,  encountered 
storms  on  the  way,  and  was  involved  in  a  number  of  minor 
engagements  in  the  Channel,  which,  though  not  equal  to  a 
single  real  naval  battle,  sorely  pressed  the  already  damaged 
fleet,  so  that  a  retreat  had  to  be  contemplated  instead  of 
a  landing.  Storms  did  the  rest,  and  before  Parma  could 
set  out,  the  Armada  was  in  such  a  condition  that  the  remnant 
of  it  could  scarcely  reach  the  Spanish  harbours. 

The  fate  of  this  invincible  Armada  was  an  event  of  world- 
wide interest.  The  remains  of  Spanish  power  and  pros- 
perity sank  with  it  in  the  waves,  and  in  England,  now 
the  victorious  bulwark  of  religious  liberty,  a  new  develop- 
ment began.  England  had  found  her  element,  soon  to  rule 
in  it  as  a  great  power. 

Now  began  the  great  maritime  development  of  this 
country.  The  time  of  voyages  of  conquest  and  discovery, 
when  Drake,  Raleigh,  Howard,  and  Frobisher  gave  impor- 
tance to  the  English  naval  power,  and  colonial  possessions 
were  acquired  in  the  East  Indies  and  America.  The 
foundations  were  laid  of  the  greatness  which  was  to  de- 
velop itself  during  the  next  two  centuries.  Commercial 
enterprise,  protected  by  a  powerful  fleet  and  fostered  by 
wealthy  colonies  in  the  east  and  west,  was  greatly  extended. 
It  is,  therefore,  perfectly  intelligible  that  Elizabeth's  reign, 
and  especially  the  latter  part  of  it,  should  be  regarded  by 
Englishmen  as  the  most  prosperous  period  of  their  history. 
Fruitless  laurels,  and  severe  internal  crises  had  been  the 
results  of  the  French  conquests  of  Edward  III.,  while  the 
naval  wars  of  Elizabeth  introduced  England  into  her  own 
element,  and  opened  up  the  natural  sources  of  her  power, 
so  that  her  internal  prosperity  and  external  importance  were 
developed  simultaneously. 

For  this  reason  the  English  are  accustomed  to  associate 
the  rise  of  their  greatness  with  this  victory  of  Protestantism, 
and  it  explains  the  Protestant  hue  which  the  English  nation 
has  assumed  since  the  sixteenth  century. 


002  THE  REFORMATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

Seldom  has  a  reign  closed  so  peacefully  after  long  storms 
as  that  of  Elizabeth  (April,  1603),  and  when  we  compare 
the  succeeding  period,  we  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the 
skill  with  which  she  adjusted  those  differences  between 
regal  and  popular  rights  by  which  the  country  was  so  con- 
vulsed in  the  following  decades. 

This  was  partly  the  result  of  the  gravity  of  a  situation 
before  which  all  minor  differences  vanished.  Still,  Elizabeth 
had  a  large  share  in  it.  Her  government  was  very  econo- 
mical and  well  administered.  Seldom  had  a  ruler  under 
difficult  circumstances  contrived  so  skilfully  to  avoid  impos- 
ing unusual  burdens  on  the  people.  Then  she  was  prudent 
and  dexterous  in  her  way  of  going  to  work. 

She  held  those  sentiments  of  absolutism  and  regal  power 
which  belonged  to  all  the  Tudors,  but  she  never  challenged 
opposition  to  them  by  boasting,  and  took  good  care  never 
to  agitate  the  momentous  question  of  the  limits  of  mo- 
narchical and  parliamentary  rights.  She  well  knew  that 
their  relations  were  ill-defined,  and  thought  it  prudent 
never  to  let  them  become  matter  of  dispute. 

But  all  this  was  changed  immediately  after  her  death. 
During  the  next  reign  there  was  not  a  trace  of  greatness  in 
the  government.  Blunders,  mishaps,  and  violent  disputes 
about  the  rights  of  Parliament  and  the  crown  were  the  order 
cf  the  day. 


PART  XIII. 

THE  REVOLUTION  AND  REPUBLIC  IN  ENGLAND. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

JAMES  I.,  1603-25.* 

Character  of  the  Monarch  and  unfavourable  beginning  of  his  reign. — 
The  Gunpowder  Plct,  November,  1605. — The  Contests  of  1621. — 
Trial  of  Lord  Bacon  of  Verulam. — The  Question  of  taking  part  in 
the  Bohemian-Palatinate  War. — The  Difficulties  of  Parliament. — 
Address  of  November,  1621,  and  Dissolution  of  Parliament. — The 
Spanish  Marriage  Scheme.  Buckingham  and  the  Prince  of 
Wales. — Change  in  the  Policy  of  England. — The  Parliament  of 
1624. — Death  of  James,  April,  1625. 

CHARACTER  OF  JAMES  I.,  AND  UNFAVOURABLE  BEGINNING 
OF  HIS  REIGN. 

IT  was  universally  admitted  that  Mary's  son  would   be 
Elizabeth's  successor  before  her  death.    Mary's  right  was 
indisputably  established  through  him. 

James  VI.  of  Scotland  and  I.  of  England  was  the  issue 
of  the  stormy  marriage  of  Mary  and  Darnley,  and  he  was 

*  Besides  the  before-mentioned  literature : — Annals  of  King  James  I. 
and  Charles  I.,  1681.  Wilson's  History  of  Great  Britain,  1653.  Sidney, 
Letters  and  Memorials,  1746.  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion, 
1702.  Memorials  of  Whitelock,  1732.  Clarendon  State  Papers. 
Rushworth,  London,  1682;  Thurloe,  1742,  and  the  Parliamentary 
Debates.  Compare  Guizot,  Collection  des  Memoires  iclatives  a  1'His- 
toire  de  la  Revolution  d'Angleterre,  Paris,  1823,  28  vols.;  Guizot, 
Histoire  de  Charles  J.,  6th  ed.  1856;  On  Cromwell;  besides  the  bio- 
graphies of  Leti,  1692;  Villemain,  1819;  and  Merle  d'Aubigng. 
Carlyle,  Letters  and  Speeches  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  1845-57.  Guizot, 
Histoire  de  la  Republique  d'Angleterre,  1854.  The  same,  Histoire  du 
Protectorat  de  Richard  Cromwell,  1855.  For  a  critique  on  the  sources 
see  Ranke's  Engl.  Geschichte,  vol.  vii. 


604  THE  REVOLUTION  IN   ENGLAND. 

born  not  long  after  the  murder  of  Rizzio.  He  was  two 
years  old  when  his  mother  escaped  to  England,  and  then 
had  for  years  been  tossed  hither  and  thither  between  the 
leaders  of  the  Scotch  nobility.  He  had  not  given  any 
evidence  of  ability  as  ruler  of  Scotland.  Awkward  and 
unkingly  in  person,  manners,  and  tastes,  he  had  with  diffi- 
culty maintained  his  position  among  the  parties  which  were 
tearing  Scotland  in  pieces,  and  the  main  inheritance  of  this 
period  of  perpetual  warfare  was  an  irritability  about  his 
royal  rights,  occasioned  by  the  systematic  attacks  of  the 
rigid  Presbyterians.  He  had  not  attempted  any  interference 
abroad ;  he  had  even  allowed  his  mother  to  die  without 
any  vigorous  effort  to  avert  her  fate.  It  was  mainly  owing 
to  his  inaction  and  indifference  that  her  hopes  that  Scotland 
would  take  up  her  cause  were  not  fulfilled.  The  succession 
to  the  English  crown  was  nearer  to  his  heart  than  his 
mother's  execution.* 

When,  in  July,  1603,  he  proceeded  amidst  the  rejoicings 
of  the  people  from  Edinburgh  to  London,  he  entered  upon 
an  inheritance  greater  in  extent  than  had  been  possessed  by 
any  king  before  him.  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland 
were,  for  the  first  time,  united  under  one  sceptre ;  and 
though  it  was  not  an  amalgamation  of  the  three  empires, 
their  union  considerably  increased  the  power  of  their 
common  ruler. 

In  this  respect,  the  power  which  Elizabeth  had  inherited 
was  thrown  into  the  shade ;  but  his  character  made  it  by  no 
means  likely  that  he  would  eclipse  the  brilliance  of  her 
reign.  While  Elizabeth  frequently  displayed  masculine 
powers,  it  is  often  difficult  to  remember  in  James's  case  that 
we  are  in  the  presence  of  a  man,  the  impression  he  made 
was  so  thoroughly  effeminate. 

He  was  not  wanting  in  acquirements  and  cultivation ; 
indeed,  he  might  almost  be  called  learned.  He  had  taken 
part  in  the  theological  controversies  then  agitated  in  Scot- 
land, and  had  now  and  then  appeared  as  an  author.  He 
brought  to  the  throne  the  petty  literary  vanity  of  a  pedant ; 
and  this,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Henry  VIII.,  is 
always  a  misfortune. 

There  was  nothing  in  his  character  to  inspire  confidence 
or  respect.  His  want  of  manliness,  timorousness,  and 
supineness  in  great  things  and  small,  his  awkward  shiftless- 
*  Mignet. 


JAMES   I.  605 

ness,  the  plebeian  vulgarity  of  his  manners  and  mode  of 
life,  his  occupation  with  trifles  and  childish  whims,  all  con- 
tributed to  give  the  impression  of  a  person  whom  no  one 
could  esteem  or  had  any  cause  to  fear. 

And  with  all  this  obvious  weakness  of  mind  and  body 
were  united  prejudices  about  regal  sovereignty  which  almost 
amounted  to  insanity.  From  these  unkingly  lips  were  heard 
sayings  about  absolute  power  and  the  unlimited  rights  of 
the  crown  which  would  scarcely  have  beseemed  personages 
like  Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth,  and  in  his  case  they  were 
simply  ridiculous. 

James  I.  was  a  fanatical  doctrinaire  of  absolute  mon- 
archy ;  he  had  adopted  as  an  article  of  faith  the  doctrine 
that  the  king  was  a  second  Providence  upon  earth,  that  all 
popular  privileges  were  only  favours  granted  by  the  throne, 
a  doctrine  which  may  have  the  most  mischievous  results  to 
a  weak  head.  His  political  wisdom  consisted  in  boasting  of 
these  ideas. 

In  spite  of  their  Magna  Charta  and  their  Parliament, 
the  English  were  not  accustomed  to  overmuch  liberty  :  the 
Tudors  had  taught  them  to  obey  in  a  way  which  showed 
what  a  strong  will  might  accomplish  even  with  constitu- 
.tional  forms.  Even  Elizabeth  had  governed  exactly  as  she 
pleased,  though  her  manner  of  doing  so  was  less  severe ; 
but  she  had  never  established  as  a  doctrine,  what  the  nation 
had  submitted  to  in  fact,  nor  attempted  to  settle  the  contro- 
versy as  to  their  respective  powers. 

The  rejoicings  with  which  the  beginning  of  James's  reign 
was  greeted  soon  gave  place  to  general  discontent.  Under 
Elizabeth  the  people  had  been  used  to  an  economical,  con- 
scientious government ;  but  now  a  careless  and  easy 
method  of  management  was  introduced,  which  was  very 
expensive,  and  soon  brought  the  finances  into  confusion. 
The  people  were  exasperated  by  a  swarm  of  Scotch  place- 
hunters  and  assuming  royal  favourites.  Elizabeth  had  had 
her  favourites  also,  but  they  had  not  been  expensive  to  the 
State ;  while  those  who  helped  King  James  to  while  away 
his  time,  consumed  large  sums  of  money,  and  were  a  dis- 
grace to  the  crown. 

The  complaints  about  the  rapacity  of  the  Scotch,  who 
"  eat  up  the  country  like  canker  worms,"  were  soon  so 
loud,  that  the  worst  results  might  be  anticipated. 

Then  his  position  with  respect  to  the  ecclesiastical  ques- 


606      THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

tion  was  doubtful,  though  this  was  less  his  fault  than  the 
result  of  the  whole  situation. 

He  was  the  son  of  a  zealous  Catholic,  whose  death  had 
been  regarded  as  a  courageous  martyrdom  for  her  faith  ;  he 
hated  the  Presbyterians,  who  wanted  to  set  up  an  indepen- 
dent ecclesiastical  community  in  opposition  to  him.  The 
English  Catholics  therefore  hoped  that  he  would  honour  his 
mother's  memory,  and  grant  them  more  liberty.  He  had 
even  given  them  secret  promises  to  this  effect ;  but  his  sub- 
sequent actions  were  not  in  accordance  with  them.  He 
had  a  certain  liking  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
was  awed  by  episcopal  authority  ;  but  then  it  must  be  for 
his  benefit,  not  that  of  his  subjects.  He  had  not  the  least 
idea  of  making  greater  concessions  to  the  Catholics  ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  made  their  position  more  painful,  for  which 
they  recompensed  him  with  mortal  hatred. 

The  remnants  of  the  party  of  the  old  conspirators,  united 
with  other  persons,  irritated  by  real  or  imaginary  neglect,  in 
forming  a  plan  of  horrible  revenge. 

They  resolved  to  fill  the  cellars  under  the  Houses  of  Par- 
liament with  gunpowder,  and  on  the  day  of  the  opening  of 
Parliament  to  blow  up  the  whole  of  official  England  by  one 
stroke,  the  royal  family,  the  ministers,  and  the  Upper  and 
Lower  House.  It  was  an  evidence  of  what  deeds  the  party 
which  had  lost  its  leader  in  Mary  was  capable. 

The  scheme  was  ready  for  execution,  when  a  Catholic 
lord,  who  had  a  brother-in-law  among  the  accomplices, 
received  a  warning  letter,  in  which  it  was  said,  among  other 
things,  "  Though  there  be  no  appearance  of  any  stir,  yet 
I  say  they  shall  receive  a  terrible  blow  this  Parliament,  and 
yet  they  shall  not  see  who  hurts  them." 

The  letter  was  communicated  to  the  King,  who  was  in 
perpetual  fear  of  attempts  on  his  life,  and  always  appeared 
in  a  panoply  of  thick  clothes,  and  he  at  once  suspected 
gunpowder.  The  day  before  the  opening  of  Parliament  the 
cellars  were  searched,  and  one  of  the  conspirators  was 
found  amongst  the  barrels  employed  in  making  the  final 
preparations,  and  with  a  cheerful  countenance  he  avowed 
his  Christian  project. 

It  need  not  be  said  that  this  affair  made  an  immense  sen- 
sation, and  stirred  up  all  the  ecclesiastical  hatred  which  had 
been  raging  in  the  country  for  more  than  half  a  century. 
Parliament,  composed  of  members  elected  more  freely  than 


THE  POWER   OF  PARLIAMENT.  607 

formerly,  gave  expression  to  it  in  severe  laws  against  the 
Catholics.  King  James,  on  the  whole,  maintained  a  posi- 
tion between  the  two  parties.  He  was  more  severe  to  the 
Puritans  than  Elizabeth,  and  the  Dissenters  called  him  a 
secret  Catholic ;  for  in  all  cases  of  dispute  he  betrayed  far 
more  liking  for  the  Catholic  hierarchy  than  for  the  indepen- 
dent and  rebellious  spirit  of  the  Protestants  in  and  out  of 
England.  Still,  he  would  have  liked  to  get  rid  of  the  Pope 
and  his  connection  with  the  Catholic  powers. 

James  was  not  the  man  to  talk  of  the  divine  right  of 
kings ;  a  monarch  who  was  afraid  of  his  Parliament  should 
not  have  defied  and  threatened  it,  for  he  was  always  wanting 
money,  and  could  not  dispense  with  its  aid.  Yet  what 
language  did  he  not  venture  to  use ! 

In  the  King's  speech  from  the  throne,  in  1609,  were  the 
memorable  words,  "  God  hath  power  to  create  or  destroy, 
to  make  or  unmake  at  his  pleasure,  to  give  life  or  to  send 
death  ;  and  to  God  both  body  and  soul  are  due.  And  the 
like  power  have  kings  :  they  make  and  unmake  their  sub- 
jects ;  they  have  power  of  raising  and  casting  down,  of  life 
and  of  death — judges  over  all  their  subjects,  and  in  all 
causes,  and  yet  accountable  to  none  but  God  only.  They 
have  power  to  exalt  low  things,  and  abase  high  things,  and 
make  their  subjects  like  men  of  chess  :  a  pawn  to  take  a 
bishop  or  a  knight,  and  to  cry  up  or  down  any  of  their  sub- 
jects as  they  do  their  money." 

Even  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  this  doctrine  he  con- 
sidered to  be  blasphemy  and  revolution ;  and  all  this  from 
a  man  who  could  not  see  a  sword  without  shuddering. 

There  could  not  have  been  a  better  method  of  bringing 
the  delicate  question  of  the  relations  between  the  King  and 
people  to  an  issue,  and  of  compelling  the  people's  represen- 
tatives to  settle  what  was  in  their  power,  and  what  in  the 
King's,  than  by  these  blasphemous  speeches. 

And  nowhere  was  this  question  more  eagerly  discussed 
than  on  English  soil.  If  there  were  chartered,  and  what  is 
more,  exercised  popular  rights,  it  was  in  England.  The 
mode  in  wr.ich  they  were  exercised  had  undoubtedly  always 
taken  the  colour  of  the  age,  and  there  was  a  certain  oscilla- 
tion according  as  the  character  of  the  sovereign  or  the  force 
of  circumstances  turned  the  scale.  What  had  not  Henry 
VIII.  and  Elizabeth  succeeded  in  accomplishing  without 
Parliament,  and  on  the  other  hand  how  the  kings  had  to 


608      THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

submit  to  it  during  the  civil  wars  !  Nevertheless  under  the 
Tudors,  three  principles  were  acknowledged  to  be  in  force — 
that  new  laws  could  not  be  enacted,  nor  new  taxes  imposed 
without  the  consent  of  Parliament,  and  that  the  responsible 
advisers  of  the  crown  might  be  called  to  account  by  Par- 
liament. These  rules  were  thoroughly  established  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  Henry  VIII.  had  promulgated  all 
ecclesiastical  laws  through  Parliament,  and  Edward  VI.  and 
Elizabeth  had  done  the  same.  The  Crown  had  often 
thrown  the  responsibility  of  its  acts  upon  the  ministers,  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  the  odium  attaching  to  them,  and  so 
culpable  ministers  and  corrupt  counsellors  were  continually 
summoned  before  Parliament.  Even  the  principle  of  the 
consent  of  Parliament  to  taxation  had  never  been  a  subject 
of  dispute. 

In  short,  to  a  certain  extent  royal  and  popular  rights  had 
comported  well  together,  but  this  good  understanding  had 
mainly  depended  on  the  dexterity  of  the  leading  personages. 
But  that  an  extravagant  government  like  James's,  which 
wounded  the  susceptibilities  of  the  great  parties,  and  with  a 
most  corrupt  financial  system,  proclaimed  its  intention  of 
upsetting  the  usages  of  public  law,  would  soon  put  an  end 
to  the  loyalty  of  Parliament  was  as  clear  as  could  be, 
especially  as  it  was  irritated  by  the  perpetual  demands  of 
the  Crown  for  money. 

A  circumstance  not  in  itself  important,  but  momentous 
in  its  results,  gave  rise  to  the  conflict. 

THE  CONFLICT  OF  1621. 

In  order  to  raise  money  the  Crown  resorted  to  all  sorts 
of  devices,  not  exactly  illegal,  but  sordid  and  corrupt. 
Besides  a  shameless  trade  in  patents  of  nobility,  which  were 
a  disgrace  both  to  the  government  and  the  aristocracy,  an 
abuse  respecting  monopolies  had  sprung  up  which  was 
a  decided  injury  to  the  prosperity  of  the  nation.  The 
Crown — even  Elizabeth  did  not  disdain  to  do  it — sold  the 
sole  right  to  trade  in  certain  articles  to  companies  or  indivi- 
duals. As  is  well  known,  this  system  is  condemned  both 
by  reason  and  experience ;  but  it  was  never  carried  on  more 
recklessly  than  under  James  I.,  who  in  money  matters, 
openly  avowed  himself  to  be  a  sick  man  urgently  needing 
medical  aid.  This  abuse  had  frequently  been  discussed  in 


TRIAL  OF  LORD   BACON.  609 

Parliament,  but  complaints  against  it  had  always  been  in 
vain ;  now,  however,  a  new  and  worse  abuse  suddenly  came 
to  light. 

The  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  Lord  Bacon,  one  of 
the  foremost  thinkers  of  all  times,  sold  not  only  monopolies 
but  judicial  sentences,  thus  making  a  prostitute  of  justice. 
The  evidence  against  him  was  so  conclusive,  that  he  gave 
up  all  attempt  at  defence  and  confessed  his  guilt  in  abject 
terms.  It  cuts  one  to  the  heart  to  read  the  letter  addressed 
to  Parliament  in  April,  1620,  by  a  man  of  sixty  years  of 
age,  the  first  minister  of  the  Crown  and  a  European  cele- 
brity. It  begins  with  the  words  : — 

"  Upon  advised  consideration  of  the  charge,  descending 
into  my  own  conscience,  and  calling  my  memory  to  account 
as  far  as  I  am  able,  I  do  plainly  and  ingenuously  confess 
that  I  am  guilty  of  corruption,  and  do  renounce  all  de- 
fence and  put  myself  on  the  grace  and  mercy  of  your 
lordships." 

He  then  reckons  up  twenty-three  cases  in  which,  contrary 
to  his  oath  and  duty,  he  had  received  from  parties  for  mono- 
polies, sums  of  ^50,  £100,  ^200,  ^"400,  &c.* 

This  business  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  England. 
The  disgraceful  acts  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  were  only 
symptomatic  of  a  whole  system  of  corruption.  This  trial  of 
the  first  minister  of  the  Crown,  which  was  gone  into  with 
great  minuteness  in  Parliament,  affected  the  crown  as  well 
as  the  accused,  the  sentence  against  him  was  a  condemna- 
tion of  the  government ;  the  people  began  to  suspect  that 
the  whole  administration  was  corrupt.  It  was  a  great 
success  for  Parliament  to  have  deprived  the  arrogant  King 
of  his  minister. 

Another  event  now  took  place,  which  put  the  finishing 
stroke  to  the  embitterment  of  the  nation. 

On  the  24th  of  March,  1613,  James's  daughter,  Elizabeth, 
had  married  the  Elector  Frederick  of  the  Palatinate,  amidst 
the  rejoicings  of  the  people.  Frederick  was  greeted  as  the 
head  of  the  German  Union,  and  the  marriage  as  the  con- 
nection of  England  with  German  Protestantism.  Then 
came  his  election  as  King  of  Poland,  the  defeat  of  Prague, 
the  downfall  of  the  winter-kingdom ;  and  James  I.  left  his 
son-in-law,  now  wandering  homeless  about  Germany,  in  the 
lurch,  and  made  no  appeal  to  Parliament  for  money,  while 
*  Cobbett,  Parliamentary  History. 
R  R 


6 10  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

there  was  yet  time.  Instead  of  helping  the  unhappy  Count 
Palatine  and  his  daughter,  he  scolded  the  rebels  and  the 
Usurper,  and  formed  the  project  of  marrying  the  Prince  of 
Wales  to  the  Spanish  Infanta. 

A  commercial  nation  is  never  disposed  to  go  to  war  for 
remote  considerations,  but  this  war  lay  near  the  hearts  of 
the  English;  it  was  a  struggle  against  the  restoration  of 
Catholicism  which  was  achieving  great  successes,  it  was  a 
question  of  the  support  of  the  cause  for  which  England 
herself  had  sustained  severe  trials  ;  this  temperate  peace- 
ful nation  was  more  eager  for  war  than  ever  before.  But 
James  held  back,  not  from  weakness  alone,  but  partly  from 
legitimist  scruples.  His  son-in-law  was  rebelling  against 
the  divine  authority  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  with  whose 
Spanish  relations  he  was  just  negotiating  a  marriage,  and 
not  with  much  success. 

For  the  usurped  Crown  of  Bohemia,  therefore,  James 
would  on  no  account  do  anything  ;  but  for  the  Palatinate,  on 
the  contrary,  he  declared  with  great  emphasis  that  he  would 
do  all  in  his  power. 

When  in  January,  1621,  he  asked  Parliament  for  money 
to  protect  the  rights  of  his  grandchildren  in  the  Palatinate, 
and  to  help  the  good  cause  of  liberty  of  conscience,  he 
found  a  readiness  which  he  had  never  met  with  before,  but 
complaints  of  the  great  domestic  grievances  were  now  first 
seriously  urged.  Parliament  was  still  sitting,  and  Bacon's 
impeachment  keeping  every  one  in  suspense,  when  news 
came  of  the  progress  of  Catholic  restoration  in  Bohemia 
and  Austria ;  the  new  dangers  of  the  Huguenots  in  France, 
and  the  Protestants  in  the  Netherlands,  but  notwithstanding 
the  supplies  granted  by  Parliament,  James  did  nothing  but 
make  feeble  declarations  and  diplomatic  protests. 

To  the  discontent  with  the  failings  of  the  administration, 
was  now  added  irritation,  occasioned  by  the  weakness  of 
the  foreign  policy  of  the  government.  The  Lower  House 
took  upon  itself  for  the  first  time  to  discuss  foreign  affairs  : 
the  war  on  the  Continent  and  the  errors  of  the  government 
on  a  great  European  question.  It  was  as  yet  a  long  way 
from  revolution,  but  it  was  the  first  step  towards  it. 

The  King  accused  Parliament  of  going  beyond  its  privi- 
leges, and  prorogued  it.  Previous  usage  certainly  justified 
this  course,  but  the  nation  could  not  be  blamed  for  making 
itself  heard  on  so  vital  a  question.  For  forty  years  and 


THE   CONFLICT   OF    1 62  I.  6ll 

more  it  had  had  a  bitter  feud  with  Spain,  Hapsburg,  and 
Rome.  All  the  plots  against  Elizabeth — the  war  during 
the  eighth  decade ;  the  invincible  Armada ;  the  gun- 
powder plot — had  a  common  source ;  the  nation's  eagerness 
for  war  arose  from  a  justifiable  anxiety  as  to  the  effect 
which  a  victory  of  their  mortal  enemy  on  the  Continent 
might  have  upon  the  liberties,  political  and  religious,  of  their 
island  empire. 

When  Parliament  re-assembled  in  November,  1621,  these 
sentiments  were  still  more  strongly  expressed.  The  impor- 
tant question  whether  Parliament  had  a  right  to  arraign  the 
foreign  policy  of  the  government,  pressed  for  a  decision. 
The  King  again  asked  for  money,  not  really  to  make  war, 
but  to  continue  the  demonstrations  which  had  made  him  the 
laughing-stock  of  Europe.  Parliament  would  only  grant  it 
on  condition  that  the  King  would  give  up  the  Spanish  mar- 
riage ;  break  up  his  alliances  irrevocably  with  the  Catholic 
powers ;  proceed  with  severity  against  the  Catholics,  and 
finally  draw  the  sword  in  the  Protestant  cause. 

These  proposals  were  made  to  the  King  in  an  address, 
at  that  time  of  an  unprecedented  kind.  A  special  com- 
plaint was  added  about  the  arrest  of  members  of  Parliament. 

The  King  replied  in  a  defiant  letter  to  the  Speaker,  re- 
proaching the  House  for  meddling  with  things  above  their 
reach  and  capacity,  forbade  them  to  interfere  with  his 
government  or  in  deep  matters  of  state,  and  especially  in 
the  marriage  of  his  son  with  the  Infanta  of  Spain  ;  and  he 
finally  declared  that  in  cases  of  impropriety  of  conduct  of 
members  of  Parliament,  either  in  the  House  or  out  of  it,  he 
must  reserve  the  right  of  punishing  them.* 

This  letter  was  intended  to  intimidate  the  Commons,  but 
it  rather  acted  as  a  challenge.  One  of  the  members  ex- 
pressed the  feeling  of  the  House  when  he  said,  "  Our 
liberties  are  our  freehold,  and  the  fairest  flower  that  groweth 
in  the  garden  of  the  Commons,  and  if  they  be  once  nipped 
they  will  never  grow  again."  f 

The  House  insisted  on  liberty  of  speech  as  an  ancient 
and  inviolable  right,  and  the  King  sent  them  another  letter 
on  the  1 6th  of  December,  in  which  he  said  that  he  would 
not  hear  of  rights  and  inherited  claims,  the  House  enjoyed 

*  Cobbett.     Immunity  from  arrest  was  granted,  "  eundo,  sedendo, 
redeundo." 
t  Cobbett. 


6l2  THE   REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

certain  privileges  by  the  grace  and  favour  of  the  King  and 
his  predecessors,  not  by  inheritance  but  toleration. 

It  is  never  the  true  interest  of  a  government  to  agitate 
the  question  of  existing  and  recognised  rights.  It  is  always 
a  delicate  one  and  was  particularly  so  in  England.  Four 
hundred  years  had  elapsed  since  Magna  Charta  was  granted, 
and  it  did  not  contain  everything  that  was  now  English  law  ; 
but  the  Englishman  was  accustomed  to  connect  his  rights 
with  this  treaty,  and  to  talk  to  him  of  favours  and  conces- 
sions that  might  be  withdrawn,  was  to  put  the  people's 
notions  of  right  to  a  severe  test.  To  maintain  that  no 
rights  exist  except  such  as  are  conferred  by  the  favour  of 
the  Crown  is  never  conducive  to  the  true  dignity  of  royalty. 
It  is  not  willingly  borne  from  a  powerful  ruler  ;  Louis  XIV. 
and  greater  men  than  he,  were  never  forgiven  for  saying 
that  the  ruler  was  the  state  and  vice  versa,  and  a  feeble 
and  effeminate  King  should  never  have  adopted  such 
language. 

Parliament  did  not  long  keep  him  waiting  for  an  answer. 
On  the  1 8th  of  December,  the  royal  declaration  was  followed 
by  a  declaration  of  Parliament,  which  stated  that  "  the 
liberties,  franchises,  privileges,  and  jurisdictions  of  Parlia- 
ment are  the  ancient  and  undoubted  birthright  and  inherit- 
ance of  the  subjects  of  England,  and  the  making  and 
maintenance  of  laws,  and  redress  of  mischiefs  and  griev- 
ances, which  daily  happen  within  this  realm,  are  proper 
subjects  and  matter  of  counsel  and  debate  in  Parliament, 
and  that  in  the  handling  and  proceeding  of  those  businesses, 
every  member  of  the  House  hath,  and  of  right  ought  to 
have,  freedom  of  speech  to  propound,  treat,  reason,  and 
bring  to  conclusion  the  same  :  that  the  Commons  in  Parli- 
ment  have  like  liberty  and  freedom  to  propound,  treat, 
reason,  and  bring  to  conclusion  the  same :  that  the 
Commons  in  Parliament  have  like  liberty  and  freedom  to 
treat  of  these  matters  in  such  order  as  in  their  judgments 
shall  seem  fittest,  and  that  every  such  member  of  the  said 
House  hath  like  freedom  from  all  impeachment,  imprison- 
ment, and  molestation  (other  than  by  the  censure  of  the 
House  itself),  for  or  concerning  any  bill,  speaking,  reasoning, 
or  declaring  .of  any  matter  or  matters  touching  the  Parlia- 
ment or  Parliament  business ;  and  that  if  any  of  the  said 
members  be  complained  of,  and  questioned  for  anything 
said  or  done  in  Parliament,  the  same  is  to  be  showed  to 


THE   CONFLICT  OF    1 62 1.  613 

the  King,  by  the  advice  and  assent  of  all  the  Commons 
assembled  in  Parliament,  before  the  King  give  credence  to 
any  private  information."  * 

The  first  collision  between  absolute  and  constitutional 
monarchy  had  taken  place  at  a  time  when  the  first  only 
seemed  to  have  any  prospect  of  existence.  Unlimited 
royal  power  had  everywhere  gained  the  ascendancy,  partly 
in  connection  with,  partly  in  opposition  to  the  Reformation. 
In  Spain,  Italy,  and  Austria,  the  Inquisition  had  helped  to 
establish  ecclesiastical  and  temporal  absolutism,  in  the 
Protestant  German  states,  and  the  Scandinavian  countries, 
on  the  contrary,  the  fall  of  a  powerful  state  Church  had 
raised  a  powerless  monarchy  to  dignity  and  importance ;  in 
France,  the  first  strong  government  which  extricated  the 
country  from  the  confusion  of  the  religious  wars,  allowed  the 
ancient  States-General  to  fall  quietly  into  oblivion ;  nowhere 
were  voices  raised  like  those  in  England. 

The  conflict  which  arose  in  England  in  1621,  was  in 
itself  an  anomaly  in  the  universal  tendencies  of  the  age  ; 
but  the  protest  of  Parliament  was  the  announcement  of  a 
spirit  diametrically  opposed  to  traditionary  usage. 

King  James  was  furious.  He  immediately  went  to  London, 
went  down  to  the  House  with  his  privy  councillor,  summoned 
the  secretary  with  the  journal  book,  with  his  own  hand  tore 
out  the  protest,  and  had  his  own  motion  inserted  in  its  place. 
The  House  was  then  dissolved,  the  chief  leaders  of  the  oppo- 
sition committed  to  prison  ;  others,  like  John  Savill,  taken 
into  the  King's  service. 

This  mode  of  action  laid  bare  the  weakness  of  a  King  who 
imagined  he  could  annihilate  with  a  leaf  out  of  the  journal 
book  what  could  not  be  erased  from  history,  nor  from  the 
hearts  of  the  people. 

A  contest  had  begun  which  was  not  to  end  till  the  throne 
of  the  Stuarts  was  in  ruins. 

THE  SPANISH  MARRIAGE. — BUCKINGHAM  AND  THE  PRINCE 
OF  WALES. — CHANGE  OF  ENGLISH  POLICY. — DEATH 
OF  JAMES,  1625. 

Meanwhile,  the  King  was   overwhelmed  with  complica- 
tions  on   the  Continent.     He  had    asked  Parliament  for 
money   to   save   at  least   the  Count-Palatine's   hereditary 
possessions,   but  by  failing  to  fulfil  his  promises  he   had 
*  Cobbett,  i.  1362. 


6 14      THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

caused  the  unfortunate  Elector  to  lose  even  them.  The 
Emperor  had  dethroned  him  and  made  over  the  vacant  dignity 
to  Bavaria.  The  English  nation  was  deeply  affected  by 
this  blow.  The  King  had  acted  throughout  the  whole  trans- 
action with  incredible  weakness  and  want  of  character,  and 
as  we  now  see  by  the  despatches,  had  also  been  disgracefully 
deceived,  together  with  the  English  nation,  who  regarded 
the  cause  of  the  Palatinate  as  their  own. 

James's  weakness  in  this  business  was  connected  with  a 
favourite  scheme,  which  he  did  not  give  up  till  he  had 
drunk  the  cup  of  ignominy  to  the  dregs.  His  reverence 
for  the  family  politics  of  the  Hapsburgs,  their  method  of 
governing,  and  their  conception  of  sovereign  dignity,  led  to 
an  eager  desire  to  unite  his  dynasty  with  theirs  by  a  marriage, 
and  in  the  success  of  this  project,  which  after  the  events  of 
1587-8  was  quite  unlikely  to  be  fulfilled,  he  saw,  curiously 
enough,  a  solution  of  all  the  difficulties  which  encompassed 
him.  He  hoped  for  weighty  support  in  Spain  against  his 
obstreperous  Parliament.  Spain  was  to  spare  him  from  draw- 
ing the  sword  by  helping  him  in  the  Palatinate,  and  the 
price,  without  which  it  appeared  as  if  the  alliance  was  not 
to  be  had,  toleration  of  the  Catholics ;  and  abolition  of  the 
strict  parliamentary  laws  would  have  furnished  him  with  a 
check  upon  the  Puritans. 

The  negotiations  dragged  on  for  years.  James  would 
not  bind  himself  without  distinct  promises  from  Spain,  and 
Spain,  with  a  clearer  conception  of  the  divergence  between 
the  two  states,  wished,  at  all  events,  to  assure  herself 
of  the  one  advantage  that  England  should  not  take  an 
active  part  in  the  war.  So  the  business  came  to  a  stand- 
still. 

The  King  and  his  favourite,  Buckingham,  then  devised 
what  they  thought  a  most  ingenious  plan  of  breaking  through 
the  meshes  of  diplomacy.  The  King  had  himself,  in  his 
youthful  days,  carried  off  his  bride  under  difficulties,  why 
should  not  his  son  do  the  same,  in  true  chivalrous  fashion  ? 

In  the  deepest  secrecy  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham  set  sail  for  Spain,  and  appeared  at  Madrid 
on  7th  March,  1623. 

During  this  singular  wooing,  which,  according  to  the  strict 
forms  of  Spanish  etiquette  could  only  be  carried  on  at  a  dis- 
tance, the  negotiations  as  to  the  conditions  of  an  agreement 
assumed  a  more  serious  character.  In  order  to  gain  Spain 


DEATH  OF  JAMES  I.  615 

over,  King  James  allowed  a  liberty  to  the  Catholics  in  Eng- 
land which  filled  the  Protestants  with  alarm  ;  but  Spain  was 
anything  but  complaisant,  and  would  not  agree  to  the 
restoration  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  which  with  James  was 
the  main  point.  Besides  this,  Buckingham  had  a  personal 
quarrel  with  the  representative  of  this  policy,  Count 
Olivarez,  and  so  he  persuaded  the  Prince  to  a  sudden 
departure. 

Buckingham  had  conducted  the  whole  business  with  the 
frivolity  of  a  vain  courtier  :  the  report  which  he  now  gave 
of  it  was  made  up  of  lies  which  found  no  credence,  and 
truths  which  proved  nothing.  It  was  not  then  known  in 
London  hjw  far  Spain  had  decided  to  go  with  the  German 
Hapsburgs,  and  the  future  attitude  of  England  towards 
Spain  was  very  doubtful.  It  depended  on  the  decision  of 
the  King,  or  the  effects  of  the  report  of  the  irritated  Buck- 
ingham. 

But  the  Parliament  of  1624  consented  with  undisguised 
pleasure  to  the  communications,  which  showed  that  the 
government  was  at  length  giving  up  this  unnatural  plan. 
It  agreed  to  all  that  Buckingham  proposed  against  Spain ; 
and  as  the  King  gave  way  on  several  old  subjects  of  dispute, 
an  understanding  now  took  place  between  the  Crown  and 
Parliament  which  three  years  before  would  have  seemed 
impossible. 

The  King's  policy  underwent  an  entire  revolution.  Instead 
of  a  Spanish  Infanta,  he  now  desired  a  French  Princess  as 
a  daughter-in-law.  Instead  of  an  alliance  with  the  Haps- 
burgs, he  now  sought  to  ally  himself  with  their  opponents ; 
instead  of  repulsing  Parliament  with  Stuart  haughtiness,  he 
now  made  advances  to  it,  and  agreed  with  it  on  all  questions, 
foreign  and  domestic. 

In  December,  1624,  the  marriage  treaty  was  agreed  upon 
between  his  son  and  the  Princess  Henrietta  Maria  of  France. 
James  now  entered  into  the  war  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Elector  Palatine  with  an  unlooked-for  zeal,  and  was  pre- 
paring for  decisive  action,  when,  on  the  27th  of  March,  1625, 
he  died. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Charles  I.,  1625-49. — His  Character. — The  first  two  Parliaments, 
1625-26. — The  War  with  Spain  and  France. — The  third  and  last 
Parliament. — The  Petition  of  Right,  1628-9. — Charles  I.  with- 
out a  Parliament. — The  Earl  of  Strafford. — Archbishop  Laud. — 
The  Star  Chamber. — The  High  Commission. — Ship  Money,  1634. 
— John  Hampden's  Trial,  1637. 

CHARACTER   OF   CHARLES  I. — THE   FIRST  Two   PARLIA- 
MENTS.— THE  WAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  FRANCE. 

TAMES  I.  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles  I.,  born 
J  1600.  His  entrance  into  public  life  had  not  been  very 
promising.  He  had  allowed  himself  to  be  made  a  tool 
of  in  the  Spanish  marriage  affair,  and  had  covered  the  un- 
truths of  Buckingham's  report  with  the  shield  of  his  name. 
He  was,  however,  a  different  man  from  his  father.  He  pos- 
sessed considerable  ability,  was  well  educated,  had  a  talent 
for  shrewd  observation,  and  indisputable  adroitness  in  ma- 
naging men  and  things.  His  characteristics  were  of  that 
distinguished,  winning,  yet  dignified  kind  which  we  con- 
sider to  belong  to  a  born  prince.  His  appearance  was 
kingly  and  commanding,  and  he  had  nothing  of  the  studied 
haughtiness  of  his  father,  which  contrasted  so  strangely  with 
his  slovenly  exterior  and  plebeian  habits.  Even  his  enemies 
allowed  that  Charles  was  no  common  man  in  the  days  of 
his  greatest  misfortunes. 

Without  his  father's  bravado,  he  was  much  more  daring 
in  action.  What  to  the  one  was  but  a  flattering  theory,  was 
to  the  other  the  principle  of  his  life.  He  was  capable  of 
staking  his  throne  and  his  life  on  his  principles.  His  father, 
with  all  his  fine  speeches,  generally  beat  a  retreat  when 
things  began"  to  look  serious.  Not  so  his  son ;  he  staked 
everything  till  his  crown  and  life  were  lost. 


CHARLES   I.  617 

But  he  was  less  sincere  and  honest  than  his  father,  whose 
heart  was  on  his  tongue,  and  when  his  words  and  actions 
did  not  agree  it  was  rather  from  weakness  than  insincerity. 
Charles  knew  how  to  control  himself,  weighed  every  word, 
concealed  his  thoughts,  and  was  fond  of  tortuous  paths. 
When  he  was  most  flattering  and  amiable  it  was  necessary 
to  be  most  on  your  guard  against  him.  He  held  insincerity 
and  faithlessness  to  be  allowable  in  politics,  but  his  home 
life  was  exemplary  and  amiable.  A  man  with  this  courage 
and  talent,  these  commanding,  and  at  the  same  time  seductive 
qualities,  was  a  very  different  opponent  from  King  James. 

The  King's  first  step  was  to  summon  a  new  Parliament, 
as  was  customary  at  the  beginning  of  a  reign.  The 
themes  of  the  congratulatory  speeches  were  naturally  the 
inheritance  of  the  late  King,  the  energetic  prosecution  of  the 
Palatinate  war,  and  the  voting  of  the  necessary  subsidies. 
With  this  exception  nothing  can  be  more  peaceable  than 
these  addresses  and  replies.  Charles  speaks  with  a  winning 
openness  and  warmth  which  are  quite  inspiring.  He  ex- 
presses full  confidence  that  Parliament  will  support  the 
honour  of  its  sovereign  and  his  subjects,  and  assures  them 
in  writing  that  the  maintenance  of  the  faith  of  his  fathers 
always  has  been,  and  always  will  be,  sacred  to  him.  Parlia- 
ment replied  in  the  same  spirit.  On  June  22nd  a  motion 
was  made  for  a  good  understanding  between  King  and 
Parliament,  when  Rudyard  said  that  "  the  late  distastes 
between  the  late  King  and  Parliament  were  the  chief  cause 
of  all  the  miseries  of  the  kingdom,  the  first  turn  of  which 
towards  a  reconciliation  was  given  by  the  now  King,  then 
prince ;  by  which  accrued  more  benefit  to  the  subject  than 
in  any  Parliament  these  many  hundred  years.  What  may  we 
then  expect  from  him  being  King,  and  having  power  in  his 
own  hands  ?  His  good  natural  disposition,  his  freedom 
from  vice ;  his  travels  abroad  ;  his  being  bred  in  Parlia- 
ments, promised  greatly.  Therefore  he  moved  to  take  such 
course  now  to  sweeten  all  things  between  King  and  people 
that  they  may  never  afterwards  disagree."  * 

But  this  frame  of  mind  did  not  last  long.  When  these 
ceremonials  were  over,  it  was  plain  to  every  one  that  there 
were  questions  on  which  the  views  of  the  two  parties  were 
by  no  means  agreed,  that  the  King  wanted  money,  and 
when  it  was  voted  would  dismiss  Parliament  in  as  friendly 
*  Cobbett. 


618  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

a  manner  as  he  had  greeted  it,  and  Parliament  would  by 
no  means  consent  to  be  used  simply  for  this  purpose. 

The  Commons  frustrated  the  King's  tactics,  which  in 
themselves  were  unskilful.  It  was  a  more  brilliant  assembly 
than  any  that  England  had  ever  seen.  The  eminent  men  who 
afterwards  appeared  on  one  side  or  the  other  were  all  in 
this  Parliament.  It  was  one  of  unusual  power,  for  it  had 
been  formed  in  the  period  of  prosperity  and  independence, 
which  was  the  result  of  Elizabeth's  happy  reign.  The 
members  were  mostly  wealthy  landowners  of  independent 
position,  and  they  had  very  little  moral  counterpoise  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  because  James  and  Charles  had 
committed  the  great  error  of  making  it  compliant,  but 
despicable,  by  making  peers  of  a  whole  batch  of  courtiers. 

The  Commons  demanded,  before  proceeding  to  vote  sub- 
sidies, that  certain  grievances  should  be  put  an  end  to,  par- 
ticularly that  a  pledge  should  be  given  that  the  strict  laws 
against  the  Catholics,  who  were  supported  by  the  Queen, 
should  be  enforced.  A  certain  royal  chaplain,  Dr.  Montague, 
had  distinguished  himself  by  attacks  upon  the  Puritans,  who 
were  numerously  represented  in  Parliament,  and  the  Catho- 
lics were  the  zealous  advocates  of  the  Stuart  doctrines  of 
absolute  royal  power  and  the  grace  of  God,  which  were 
abhorrent  to  the  Puritans.  It  was  on  this  subject  that  the 
first  differences  arose. 

The  religious  fanaticism  of  the  Puritans  drove  Charles, 
who  was  burning  with  impatience  to  begin  the  war,  almost 
to  despair.  Instead  of  voting  the  needful  subsidies,  the 
Commons  passed  a  law  about  the  strict  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  thundered  against  the  Papacy,  and  petitioned 
for  suspended  Puritan  preachers.  Yet  Parliament  had  con- 
sented to  the  war,  and  the  King  was  loaded  with  the  debts 
which  his  father  had  been  compelled  to  incur  on  account 
of  it.  The  doubtful  manner  in  which  Buckingham  had 
employed  the  English  ships  had  brought  the  enterprise 
into  disrepute,  and  greatly  increased  the  number  of  his 
personal  enemies.  The  subsidies  which  Parliament  at 
length  granted  were  so  small  that  the  motion  was  looked 
upon  as  a  vote  of  want  of  confidence,  as  was  also  the 
resolution  to  vote  tonnage  and  poundage,  the  most  lucra- 
tive source  of  the  income  of  the  Crown — it  almost  amounted 
to  half— for  one  year  only,  instead  of  as  formerly  for  the 
whole  reign. 


THE  FIRST  AND   SECOND  PARLIAMENTS.      619 

Parliament  was  prorogued,  ostensibly  because  the  plague 
rendered  residence  in  London  impossible,  and  convened 
again  at  Oxford,  a  loyal  city ;  but  the  sentiments  of  the 
Lower  House  did  not  improve,  although  the  King  had 
several  times  urgently  begged  for  speedy  grants,  in  the 
name  of  honour,  security,  and  necessity.  On  the  25th  of 
August,  Parliament  was  dissolved,  after  a  motion  had  with 
difficulty  been  passed  in  the  Upper  House  voting  tonnage 
and  poundage  for  the  whole  reign. 

In  February,  1626,  another  Parliament  was  summoned. 
It  met  under  the  impression  of  an  unfortunate  expedition 
to  Cadiz,  which  once  more  showed  that,  although  the 
government  was  eager  for  war,  it  had  no  efficient  soldiers. 
Former  scenes  were  repeated,  only  increased  bitterness  was 
manifested  on  both  sides.  The  keeper  of  the  great  seal,  in 
his  opening  speech,  spoke  of  the  immeasurable  distance 
between  the  sublime  dignity  and  majesty  of  a  mighty 
monarch,  and  the  subjection  and  humility  of  loyal  sub- 
jects, called  the  throne  the  source  of  all  rights,  and  the  laws 
the  streams  and  rivulets  by  which  they  were  conducted  to 
subjects,  &c.  It  seemed  to  the  House  as  if  they  were 
listening  to  James  I.  again,  only  it  was  more  serious,  for  the 
son  was  in  earnest  with  what  was  mere  nonsense  with  his 
father.  Parliament  was  ready  to  grant  higher,  but  still  not 
sufficient  subsidies,  and  not  before  the  abolition  of  a  long 
list  of  grievances  which  were  a  severe  criticism  on  the 
whole  administration.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  was  even 
formally  impeached;  but  with  obvious  defiance  the  King 
contrived  that  he  should  be  appointed  to  the  office  of 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  just  vacated. 
Parliament  was  ordered  to  give  up  the  impeachment,  and 
to  grant  the  money  at  once  on  pain  of  being  dissolved. 
He  even  threatened  them  with  "new  counsels."  The 
threat  was  soon  followed  by  execution,  for  Digges  and 
Elliot,  the  chief  accusers  of  the  Duke,  were  thrown  into 
prison  ;  but  Parliament  interfered,  and  nothing  being  proved 
against  them,  the  King  was  obliged  to  release  them.  In- 
stead of  intimidating  the  Commons,  he  had  only  produced 
irritation  and  bitter  feeling.  In  June,  Parliament  was  dis- 
solved, like  the  first,  after  it  had  solemnly  protested  against 
the  illegal  exaction  of  tonnage  and  poundage,  and  de- 
manded the  removal  of  the  hated  Buckingham. 

The  system  of  force  now  appeared  openly  from  under 


620  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

the  veil  of  half-friendly  demands  and  threats,  not  so  plainly 
as  would  doubtless  have  been  the  case  had  the  King  had 
an  army  to  rely  on,  but  still  plainly  enough. 

Money  it  was  necessary  for  the  King  to  have  at  any 
price  ;  so,  as  Parliament  refused  it,  he  had  recourse  to  a 
forced  loan. 

A  Commission  was  instituted  with  full  powers  to  raise 
it ;  the  Catholic  party  advised  obedience  from  their  pulpits 
and  in  printed  sermons  ;  but  the  Puritans,  who  were  the 
great  majority  of  the  nation,  f^gerly  opposed  it ;  and  in 
many  places  the  loan  was  openly  refused,  with  an  appeal  to 
ancient  national  laws.  Those  -who  refused  were  arrested, 
and  the  judges  who  would  not  pass  sentence  on  them  dis- 
missed. The  troops  who  had  returned  from  the  unfortunate 
expedition  to  Cadiz,  were  quartered  on  the  contumacious  to 
make  them  submit ;  the  support  of  the  lawless  soldiery  was 
a  new  and  heavy  burden  to  the  whole  country.  The  war, 
too,  which  was  to  justify  all  these  acts  of  violence,  just  now 
took  an  unfortunate  turn. 

On  the  occasion  of  suing  for  the  hand  of  the  Princess 
Henrietta  Maria  for  his  master,  the  frivolous  Buckingham 
had  dared  to  enter  into  an  intrigue  with  the  young  Queen  of 
France.  This  excited  the  anxiety  of  Richelieu,  and  when, 
through  Louis  XIII.,  he  informed  Buckingham  that  he 
must  not  show  himself  in  France  again,  Buckingham  vowed 
revenge,  and  persuaded  his  master  to  declare  war  against 
France,  though  they  were  still  at  war  with  Spain.  With 
one  hundred  ships  and  seven  thousand  men,  Buckingham 
went  to  the  help  of  the  Huguenots,  in  La  Rochelle,  but 
conducted  the  enterprise  with  so  absurd  a  want  of  skill, 
that  after  the  loss  of  two-thirds  of  his  troops  he  had  to 
return  without  accomplishing  his  purpose,  covered  with 
shame  and  disgrace.  October,  1627,  La  Rochelle  was  lost ; 
English  commerce  suffered  severely  in  the  war;  British 
ships  were  seized;  the  foolish  enterprise  was  cursed  in 
every  home;  and  deep  and  general  discontent  prevailed 
throughout  the  country. 

THE  THIRD  AND  THE  LAST  PARLIAMENT,  1628-29. — THE 
PETITION  OF  RIGHT. 

Since  the  dissolution  of  the  last  Parliament,  the  Crown 
had  been  getting  on  as  badly  as  possible.  The  war,  which 
the  King  repeatedly,  and  from  conviction,  declared  to  be  a 


THIRD   AND   LAST  PARLIAMENT.  621 

matter  of  honour  for  himself  and  his  people,  had  brought 
nothing  but  loss  and  disgrace  ;  and  the  forced  loan  had 
sown  deep  hatred  amongst  the  people,  without  removing 
his  embarrassments.  The  scanty  results  of  the  forced  loan 
were  drained  to  the  dregs,  and  it  was  needful  once  more  to 
look  about  for  a  Parliament.  Parliament  had  not  been 
very  complaisant  even  at  the  beginning  of  Charles's  reign, 
before  he  had  done  anything  illegal ;  what  could  be  ex- 
pected from  it  now  after  all  that  had  taken  place  ? 

The  representatives  who  assembled  in  March,  1528,  had 
some  of  them  been  themselves  imprisoned,  almost  all  had 
suffered  from  the  loan  and  the  quartering  of  the  troops, 
and  their  constituents  were  deeply  embittered  by  the  doings 
of  the  government  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  tone  in  which  the  King  addressed  the  assembly  fore- 
boded no  good.  As  usual,  he  contented  himself  with  few 
words, and  desired  the  Commons  to  do  the  same,  "for  tedious 
consultations  at  this  time  are  as  hurtful  as  ill  resolutions. 
....  Every  man  must  now  do  according  to  his  con- 
science; wherefore,  if  you  (which  God  forbid)  shouid  not 
do  your  duties  in  contributing  what  the  State  at  this  time 
needs,  I  must,  in  discharge  of  my  conscience,  use  those 
other  means  which  God  hath  put  into  my  hands  to  save 
that  which  the  follies  of  some  particular  men  may  otherwise 
hazard  to  lose.  Take  not  this  as  a  threatening,  for  I  scorn 
to  threaten  any  but  my  equals." 

The  keeper  of  the  great  seal  then  added  that  the  King 
had  had  recourse  to  Parliament  not  from  necessity,  but  as 
a  favour. 

The  bitterest  complaints  of  the  first  two  Parliaments  had 
related  to  the  King's  lukewarmness  about  the  Papists ;  but 
these  were  now  thrown  into  the  shade  by  grievances  of 
another  kind  :  taxation  without  consent  of  Parliament,  the 
forced  loan,  arrest  of  members  and  private  persons  for 
refusal  to  pay  unconstitutional  imposts,  and  the  quartering 
of  foreign  soldiery.  There  was  now  an  almost  revolutionary 
tone  in  the  speeches.  The  same  Rudyard  who  three  years 
before,  in  a  speech  before  the  King,  had  spoken  of  his  dis- 
tinguished qualities  as  auguring  good  for  the  country,  now 
broke  out  with  the  words,  "  This  is  the  crisis  of  Parlia- 
ments ;  by  this  we  shall  know  whether  Parliaments  shall 
live  or  die  ;  besides,  the  eyes  of  Christendom  are  upon  us 
— the  King  and  the  kingdom  will  be  valued  and  devalued 


622  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

both  by  enemies  and  friends,  according  to  the  success  of 
this  Parliament.  The  cause  why  we  are  called  hither  is  to 
save  ourselves.  We  are  not  now  upon  bene  esse,  we  are  upon 
the  very  esse  of  it,  '  whether  we  shall  be  a  kingdom  or  no.' " 

A  very  sharp  speech  was  also  made  by  Thomas  Went- 
worth,  afterwards  Earl  Strafford,  who  had  himself  been  im- 
prisoned for  refusing  a  loan ;  but — and  this  points  to  his 
secret  designs — he  makes  a  great  distinction  between  the 
King  and  the  guilty  advisers  by  whom  he  has  been  misled. 
Of  these  he  spoke  with  the  greatest  bitterness. 

In  accordance  with  these  sentiments,  the  first  resolution 
of  Parliament  was  a  unanimous  protest  against  arbitrary 
punishments  and  forced  loans.  Then,  to  conciliate  the 
King,  five  subsidies  were  granted  him,  to  his  great  satisfac- 
tion ;  but  before  this  vote  was  formally  passed,  a  solemn 
petition  was  granted  against  all  grievances  with  an  appeal 
to  the  ancient  laws  of  the  land.  The  King  did  all  in  his 
power  to  frustrate  the  discussion  of  this  Petition  of  Right ; 
he  threatened  to  dissolve  the  House  if  it  was  not  ready  with 
the  grants  of  money  within  a  certain  time.  He  then  gave 
a  solemn  promise  not  to  infringe  any  of  the  ancient  statutes ; 
it  was  therefore  needless  to  insist  on  the  petition.  But  it 
was  all  in  vain.  The  bill  was  brought  in,  and  passed  both 
Houses. 

The  petition  professes  to  be  a  corroboration  and  explana- 
tion of  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  kingdom ;  and  after 
reciting  various  statutes  recognising  the  rights  contended 
for,  prays  "  that  no  man  be  compelled  to  make  or  yield 
any  gift,  loan,  benevolence,  tax,  or  such  like  charge,  without 
common  consent  by  Act  of  Parliament ;  that  none  be  called 
upon  to  make  answer  for  refusal  to  do  so  ;  that  freemen  be 
imprisoned  or  detained  only  by  the  law  of  the  land,  or  by 
due  process  of  law,  and  not  by  the  King's  special  com- 
mand, without  any  charge ;  that  persons  be  not  compelled 
to  receive  soldiers  and  mariners  into  their  houses  against  the 
laws  and  customs  of  the  realm ;  that  commissions  for  pro- 
ceeding by  martial  law  be  revoked." 

The  petition  left  the  King  the  choice  either  of  breaking 
with  Parliament,  or  of  declaring,  by  accepting  it,  that  he 
had  broken  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  now  consented  to 
their  re-instatement. 

After  many  attempts  to  escape,  he  took  the  latter  course. 
By  the  royal  sanction,  the  Petition  of  Right  became  an 


THE  PETITION  OF  RIGHT.  623 

authorised  interpretation  of  Magna  Charta.  In  the  long 
contest  as  to  what  was  the  law,  the  nation  had  gained  the 
victory. 

Nevertheless,  there  was  much  discord  in  this  Parliament. 
The  Commons  did  not  desist  from  making  violent  attacks 
on  Buckingham,  and  the  contest  was  continued  about  ton- 
nage and  poundage,  since  the  King  would  not  give  it  up, 
and  Parliament  would  not  give  up  control  over  it.  In  June, 
therefore,  Parliament  was  prorogued  till  January,  1629. 

Before  it  re-assembled  an  assassination  took  place,  which 
was  regarded  by  the  nation  with  the  same  satisfaction  as 
the  execution  of  Mary  Stuart.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham 
was  murdered  by  a  certain  Felton  as  he  was  about  to  em- 
bark on  another  expedition  to  La  Rochelle. 

When  Parliament  met,  in  1629,  both  parties  were  resolved, 
unless  an  agreement  could  be  come  to,  to  declare  open  war. 

In  the  Commons  a  protest  was  at  once  made  against 
Popery  and  tonnage  and  poundage.  When  the  Speaker,  in 
compliance  with  the  royal  command,  was  about  to  conclude 
the  sitting,  in  order  to  prevent  the  motion  from  being  put 
to  the  vote,  he  was  held  fast  in  his  seat  by  some  of  the 
zealous  Puritans,  while  other  members  in  vain  attempted  to 
liberate  him. 

Amidst  great  confusion  the  protest  was  carried.  A  royal 
official,  who  was  sent  down  to  Parliament  on  receipt  of  the 
news  of  those  proceedings,  found  the  door  closed;  and 
when  the  furious  King  sent  his  guard  there  was  nothing  to 
be  done,  for  the  sitting  was  at  an  end.  Charles  immediately 
dissolved  Parliament,  and  in  the  House  of  Lords  spoke  in 
a  very  ungracious  tone  "  of  some  vipers  who  had  deluded 
many  in  the  Lower  House,  but  had  not  yet  poisoned  them." 
The  guilty  should  not  escape  punishment. 

A  royal  manifesto  declared  that  all  forbearance  having 
been  frustrated  by  the  obstinacy  of  some  evil-disposed  per- 
sons who  wanted  to  set  the  nation  in  flames,  the  King 
would  now  be  compelled,  until  it  should  please  him  to  do 
otherwise,  to  reign  without  a  Parliament. 

Immediately  afterwards  ten  members  of  the  Lower  House 
were  arrested,  and  condemned  to  pay  fines  varying  from 
^500  to  ^2,000,  and  to  be  imprisoned  during  the  King's 
pleasure.  Some  of  them  died  in  prison,  among  them 
Eliot,  whose  petition  for  some  relaxation  of  his  imprison- 
ment was  refused  because  it  was  not  sufficiently  humble. 


624  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

Thus  began  the  eleven  years'  reign  without  a  Parliament, 
and  the  foundations  were  laid  of  the  great  convulsion  in 
which  the  throne  of  the  Stuarts  was  overturned. 

CHARLES    I.   WITHOUT    A    PARLIAMENT. — THE    EARL   OF 
STRAFFORD  AND  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD. 

It  was  Charles's  scheme  to  transplant  to  England  the 
system  which  was  at  that  time  bearing  such  brilliant  fruits 
in  France ;  to  set  aside,  as  had  been  done  there,  the 
interests  of  the  States,  represented  by  Parliament,  and  bur- 
densome legal  usages,  and  by  an  energetic  exercise  of  the 
royal  authority  in  unison  with  the  sentiments  of  the  masses, 
to  make  himself  as  popular  as  Richelieu  was  in  France. 

The  place  vacated  by  Buckingham's  death  was  now  filled 
by  a  greater  man. 

Among  the  members  of  Parliament  in  the  second  decade, 
together  with  Pym,  Hampden,  and  Eliot,  one  of  the  most 
gifted  speakers  was  Thomas  Wentworth.  He  represented 
the  extreme  opposition,  and  seemed  ready  to  stake  his  life 
for  the  cause.  He  entered  the  Parliament  of  1628  as  one 
of  those  who  had  been  imprisoned  for  refusing  a  loan.  The 
vehemence  of  his  demeanour  in  this  assembly  was  what 
might  be  expected  from  such  an  experience  ;  but,  behold  ! 
Charles  now  gained  this  man  for  his  minister. 

Wentworth  was  a  reckless  and  energetic  party  man,  but 
did  not  possess  the  faithfulness  to  conviction  which  he  was 
given  credit  for.  His  pathos  was  the  studied  warmth  of  an 
advocate,  who  well  knew  how  to  bring  out  the  telling  points 
of  his  case  ;  but  it  did  not  come  from  his  heart.  His  mind 
was  engrossed  with  ideas  of  power  and  dignity ;  he  had 
sought  them  in  the  paths  of  opposition  ;  he  found  them  as 
a  minister.  The  opposition  could  not  have  had  a  more  for- 
midable adversary. 

He  was  thoroughly  versed  in  the  weaknesses  of  Parliament- 
ary parties  and  the  arts  of  debate ;  he  wasin  every  respect  well 
matched  with  his  adversaries,  and  hated  them  with  the  im- 
placability which  the  renegade  feels  for  his  former  partizans. 

Then,  besides  his  oratorical  powers,  he  possessed  the 
talents  of  a  really  great  statesman.  He  was  born  to  com- 
mand ;  in  whatever  he  undertook  his  talents  for  organi- 
zation were  displayed,  and  he  possessed  more  courage  than 
most  men. 

He  entirely  broke  with  his  past  history,  and  as  undaunted 


THE  EARL  OF   STRATFORD.  625 

as  if  no  ideas  were  connected  with  his  name,  he  appeared 
as  the  minister  of  a  system  which  he  had  himself  con- 
demned, resolved  to  look  all  the  consequences  in  the  face, 
and  if  need  were,  to  stake  his  life.  His  system  must  be 
condemned,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  represented  it 
in  an  imposing  style. 

His  plan  was  to  invest  the  British  monarchy  with  the  same 
absolute  power  which  the  crown  possessed  in  France.  A  well- 
organized  administration,  composed  of  dependent  officials, 
protected  by  dependent  judges  and  an  efficient  standing 
army,  was  to  supersede  the  joint  government  of  the  States, 
put  down  all  resistance,  but  also  render  needless  the  inter- 
ference of  Parliament  by  judicious  care  for  the  welfare  of 
the  people.  An  able,  well-meaning  absolutism  was  what  he 
aimed  at,  such  as  Richelieu  had  established ;  but  there  was 
this  difference :  in  France  the  States-General  had  been 
overthrown  in  the  confusion  of  a  forty  years'  civil  war, 
while  the  parliamentary  power  in  England  had  not  only 
always  been  closely  in  unison  with  the  views  of  the  people, 
but  had  acquired  fresh  strength  during  recent  reigns. 

By  the  side  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  stood  another  man 
who  guided  the  ecclesiastical  re-action  of  the  next  ten 
years.  Archbishop  Laud  was  a  learned  ecclesiastic  of  strict 
morals  and  personally  honourable  character;  he  had  not 
the  severity  and  consuming  ambition  which  distinguished 
Strafford,  but  he  was  filled  with  a  peculiar  ecclesiastical  fana- 
ticism, which  was  as  completely  hostile  to  the  sentiments  of 
the  strongest  religious  party  in  the  country  as  was  the  un- 
parliamentary government  to  old  English  law. 

The  element  of  ancient  Catholicism  which  the  Anglican 
Church  had  retained,  and  which  the  Puritans  wished  to 
efface,  had  obtained  the  ascendant  in  his  weak  head.  He 
was  possessed  with  ceremonial  whims  and  theological 
absurdities,  and  tried  to  smuggle  a  number  of  hierarchical 
fancies  into  Anglicanism. 

In  Laud's  narrow  mind  an  episcopal  ambition  was  con- 
cealed, which,  not  content  with  the  consecration  of  new 
ceremonies  and  such  comparatively  innocent  whims,  was 
continually  reminding  the  people  that  in  the  Church  as  well 
as  the  State,  they  had  to  obey  an  absolute  will  which  plainly 
leaned  towards  a  gradual  Catholic  restoration.  The  best 
hopes  were  entertained  at  Rome ;  the  Jesuits  held  up  their 
heads ;  and  the  court  lady  who  went  over  to  Catholicism  at 

s  s 


626  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

once,  because  she  did  not  wish  to  disappear  "  in  the  great 
crowd "  of  those  who  would  follow,  Laud  at  their  head, 
hit,  with  all  her  frivolity,  upon  just  the  right  expression  for 
the  sentiments  of  the  great  majority  of  the  nation,  if  not 
exactly  for  the  actual  state  of  things,  for  Laud  could  scarcely 
be  called  a  Papist. 

This  twofold  re-action  was  too  much  for  England.  It 
is  possible  that  Stratford's  system  might  have  achieved  a 
certain  success,  but  the  people  would  not  bear  this  perpe- 
tual challenge  to  their  national  sentiments  by  religious  and 
ecclesiastical  chicanery.  The  favoured  clergy  were  playing 
a  hazardous  game.  They  had  completely  adopted  the  part 
of  trainbearers  to  the  novel  absolutism  ;  they  advocated 
this  breach  of  the  constitutional  law  in  sermons  and  pam- 
phlets, they  had  a  justification  ready  for  every  arbitrary  act, 
and  openly  proclaimed  that  an  episcopal  canon  was  of  more 
weight  than  all  parliamentary  laws,  and  that  any  ecclesiasti- 
cal decree  was  sufficient  to  overthrow  them. 

This  ecclesiastical  and  secular  re-action  had  in  its  power, 
two  tribunals,  the  Star  Chamber  and  the  High  Commission, 
and  fearful  weapons  they  were. 

The  first  was  an  extraordinary  tribunal,  which  had  existed 
from  ancient  times,  and  had  been  set  up  in  periods  of  dis- 
tress occasioned  by  internal  party  struggles.  Under  Henry 
VII.  it  had  been  recognised  by  Act  of  Parliament,  but  it 
was  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  Magna  Charta,  because  govern- 
ment officials,  not  judges,  had  seats  in  it. 

The  Star  Chamber  was  the  powerful  organ  of  an  adminis- 
trative justice,  which  was  only  to  be  called  into  use  in 
exceptional  cases,  but  it  had  power  to  decide  questions 
relating  to  the  property,  liberty,  and  life  of  any  Englishman 
without  responsibility  or  right  of  appeal.  It  could  be 
proved  that  this  court  had  constantly  exercised  its  func- 
tions, especially  under  Elizabeth,  but  it  now  assumed  a 
state  of  activity  such  as  had  never  been  known  before.  It 
was  not  defined  by  any  law  what  was  or  was  not  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  this  court,  and  English  legal  historians  are 
not  themselves  agreed  about  it.  It  was  generally  under- 
stood that  forgery,  perjury,  riot,  maintenance,  fraud,  libel, 
and  conspiracy*  were  amenable  to  it.  These  were  just  the 
crimes  connected  with  politics. 

The  Star  Chamber  had  been  borne  with,  because  it  had 
*  Hallam,  ii.  105. 


STAR  CHAMBER  AND  HIGH  COMMISSION.       627 

been  employed,  especially  by  Elizabeth,  with  moderation, 
and  in  times  when  revolt  and  conspiracies  of  the  most 
dangerous  kind  were  common  ;  a  Government  which  had 
the  great  majority  of  the  nation  on  its  side,  did  not 
lose  popularity  by  summary  proceedings  against  a  common 
foe.. 

The  difference  between  the  practice  of  Elizabeth  and 
Charles  I.  was  this,  that  under  Charles  the  jurisdiction  of 
this  court  was  increased  to  such  an  extent,  that  the 
Englishman's  chartered  right  not  to  be  deprived  of  his 
natural  judges  became  almost  illusory,  and  that  the  people 
saw  innocent  persecuted  patriots,  and  not  criminals  in  the 
opponents  of  this  government. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Star  Chamber  were  all  the  more 
detested  as  their  obvious  design  was  to  enrich  the  King's 
treasury  in  a  discreditable  manner.  For  trifling  offences, 
besides  imprisonment,  and  the  loss  of  both  ears,  a  fine  of 
several  thousand  pounds  was  inflicted,  half  of  which  fell  to 
the  King,  even  when  he  was  in  no  way  personally  con- 
cerned. Those  especially  who  opposed  the  many  arbitrary 
imposts  were  brought  before  the  Star  Chamber.  Thus,  in 
1632,  a  wine  tax  was  in  favour,  and  when  the  wine  mer- 
chants refused  it,  the  sale  of  the  necessaries  of  life  to  them 
was  forbidden  by  the  Star  Chamber  until  they  agreed 
to  lend  the  King  ^6,000,  and  there  were  many  similar 
cases. 

What  the  Star  Chamber  was  for  Strafford,  the  High 
Commission  was  for  Laud  ;  neither  was  this  a  new  thing, 
but  had  existed  under  Elizabeth,  as  an  ecclesiastical  court 
for  the  punishment  of  those  who  were  considered  heretics 
by  the  State  Church. 

Under  Elizabeth,  Papists  and  Independents,  the  heretics 
to  the  right  and  left  of  Anglicanism  had  been  cited  before 
it,  and  the  latter  especially,  on  account  of  their  political  con- 
tumacy, had  received  severe  punishments.  This  was  now 
carried  further  and  further.  The  enigmatical  position  of 
Laud  between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  occasioned 
the  same  uncertainty  as  to  what  was  the  true  and  the  false 
faith  as  had  existed  under  Henry  VIII. ;  trivial  expressions 
by  persons  in  private  life  sufficed  to  incur  severe  punish- 
ment. This  part  of  the  system  also  had  a  hateful  fiscal 
character;  fines  were  heavy  and  frequent,  and  the  court 
even  allowed  its  severity  to  be  bought  off.  While  indepen- 


628  THE  REVOLUTION   IN  ENGLAND. 

dents  and  even  lukewarm  Anglicans  were  laid  under  con- 
tribution with  the  greatest  severity,  the  Catholics  bought 
their  greater  freedom  by  heavy  payments. 

Apart  from  Laud's  whimsical  perversities,  there  was  a 
strict  unity  of  purpose  in  Strafford's  unparliamentary  govern- 
ment. The  government  was  better  administered  than  it 
had  been  for  a  long  time,  the  court  was  a  pattern  of  citizen- 
like  simplicity,  and  only  hated  by  the  Puritans  because  it 
had  not  renounced  all  gaiety  ;  on  the  whole,  intelligent  care 
was  exercised  for  the  interests  of  the  country  and  the  pros- 
perity of  the  masses ;  the  taxes  imposed  had  not  received 
the  consent  of  Parliament,  but  the  Puritans  who  ruled  Par- 
liament had  enemies  enough,  and  the  Catholics,  of  whom 
there  were  not  a  few,  fared  better  than  in  previous  reigns. 
The  resistance  of  the  courts  became  more  feeble  ;  individuals 
did  indeed  protest,  but  they  paid  in  the  end,  and  among 
the  officials  and  ecclesiastics  a  school  had  arisen  who  wil- 
lingly consented  to  the  royal  absolutism.  In  short,  Strafford's 
determined  but  consistent  energy  had  effected  that  things 
were  borne  which  a  few  years  before  would  scarcely  have 
been  thought  credible. 

To  crown  this  edifice  one  thing  was  wanting,  a  standing 
army.  The  ship  money  was  to  serve  to  create  this. 

Ship  money  was  a  tax  imposed  for  the  equipment  of 
ships  which  in  ancient  times  were  required  to  protect  the 
coasts.  It*  had  always  been  an  extraordinary  war  tax, 
mainly  devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  the  fleet,  and  had 
been  chiefly  raised  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  maritime 
towns.  But  it  was  now  to  be  changed  into  a  general  stand- 
ing tax,  not  only  to  maintain  the  fleet,  but  also  a  standing 
army,  and  all  this  without  consent  of  Parliament. 

In  spite  of  the  submissive  spirit  which  had  been  shown, 
it  was  feared  that  a  time  might  come  when  the  people's 
patience  might  suddenly  come  to  an  end,  and  in  this 
case  the  Government  would  be  quite  defenceless  without  a 
standing  army.  Even  the  Continental  states,  which  had 
never  known  anything  like  the  English  Parliament  or  Magna 
Charta,  could  not  dispense  with  this  safeguard  of  abso- 
lutism, how  much  less  the  English  imitation  of  it,  which 
had  had  but  so  short-lived  an  existence!  The  standing 
army  was  to  be  the  key-stone  of  the  new  monarchy.  Even 
under  Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth  no  one  had  ventured  to 
deny  that  such  a  tax  could  not  be  imposed  without  consent 


JOHN  HAMPDEN.  629 

of  Parliament.  That  it  was  ventured  upon  now  shows  how 
far  things  had  already  gone. 

The  ship  money  was  raised,  and  borne,  though  not  with- 
out murmurs.  Strafford  thought  he  had  conquered ;  only  a 
few  years  of  peace,  he  wrote  from  Ireland,  and  the  nation 
would  become  accustomed  to  the  Government,  and  the 
King  would  be  a  more  powerful  ruler  than  any  of  his  fore- 
fathers. He  thought  the  people  would  forget  what  they 
had  once  called  their  rights,  and  become  accustomed  to  be 
ruled  like  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  There  certainly 
was  a  danger  of  this ;  and  that  it  might  not  become  over- 
whelming, a  courageous  man  determined  to  give  an  example. 

The  English  revere  the  memory  of  John  Hampden,  who, 
at  a  time  of  discouragement  and  hoplessness,  ventured  to 
stand  up  for  the  infringed  laws  of  Parliament. 

To  forestall  all  opposition,  the  King  had  procured  a  sort 
of  formal  confirmation  of  his  rights.  He  had  laid  before 
the  judges  whether  he  was  not  justified  in  imposing  this 
tax  in  case  of  necessity,  for  the  protection  of  the  empire, 
and  whether  it  was  not  for  him  alone  to  decide  the  question 
of  necessity,  and  the  judges,  like  faithful  echoes,  had  answered 
him  as  he  wished.  It  was  high  time,  in  this  state  of 
universal  subjection,  that  the  voice  of  an  independent  man 
should  interpose. 

John  Hampden  was  not  a  man  of  brilliant  talent  like 
Strafford.  He  had  but  seldom  spoken  during  the  many 
years  that  he  had  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  but  he 
was  known  there  as  a  man  of  inviolable  faithfulness  to  his 
convictions.  They  might  be  erroneous  ;  but  he  was  ready 
to  seal  them  with  his  death.  But  he  was  by  no  means  a 
revolutionary  agitator,  nor  yet  a  Puritan  zealot.  He  refused 
to  pay  the  pittance  of  zos.  for  ship  money  that  was  allotted 
to  him,  and  appealed  to  the  ancient  laws  of  the  country. 
He  was  put  on  his  trial,  which  was  just  what  he  wished.  If 
he  lost  his  cause  for  himself,  it  would  not  be  lost  for 
his  country  ;  the  public  conscience  would  at  last  be  roused, 
and  this  would  be  a  great  gain. 

Hampden's  trial  (1637)  excited  great  attention.  The 
judges  of  the  Star  Chamber  were  uneasy — even  their  con- 
sciences pricked  them ;  the  majority  by  which  he  was 
finally  convicted  was  very  small,  and  it  was  not  doubtful 
which  side  was  the  gainer  in  public  opinion.  Men  began  to 
talk  once  more,  and  with  fresh  excitement,  of  the  forgotten 


630  THE  REVOLUTION  IN   ENGLAND. 

rights  of  old  England,  called  to  mind  all  their  conflicts  with 
the  arrogance  of  the  Stuarts ;  morally,  the  Government  had 
already  forfeited  all  the  results  of  its  exertions. 

This  was  all,  however,  that  was  attained.  The  Govern- 
ment continued  to  raise  the  tax  and  to  make  military  pre- 
parations. With  many,  the  conviction  of  Hampden  was  a 
reason  for  renouncing  all  idea  of  resistance,  seeing  that  in 
his  case  it  had  failed. 

Even  Hampden  is  said  at  this  time  to  have  given  up  all 
hope  that  things  would  mend.  In  fact,  if  he  thought  that 
his  trial  would  be  a  signal  for  general  resistance,  he  was  en- 
tirely mistaken.  It  is  said  that  he  had  resolved  to  seek  a 
home  beyond  the  sea  with  his  then  unknown  relative, 
Thomas  Cromwell,  but  that  the  Government  was  guilty  of 
the  unwise  cruelty  of  refusing  them  permission.  If  such 
men  were  thinking  of  turning  their  backs  upon  their 
country  in  despair,  their  cause  must  have  seemed  hope- 
less indeed. 

A  year  afterwards  an  important  change  had  taken  place 
in  the  situation.  Complications  arose  which  rendered  the 
realisation  of  hopes  which  had  seemed  totally  improbable 
more  likely,  and  once  more  it  was  the  unfortunate  en- 
deavour to  bring  about  a  reaction  in  minor  ecclesiastical 
matters  which  occasioned  the  storm. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

THE   TURN    OF   EVENTS. 

The  Complications  in  Scotland,  1637-39. — The  Tumult  at  Edinburgh. 
— The  Covenant,  1638. — The  General  Assembly  at  Glasgow, 
November,  1638. — The  Fourth  Parliament,  1640. — The  Long 
Parliament. — First  Measures  against  the  Policy  and  Repre- 
sentatives of  Strafford's  System. — Indictment,  Trial,  and  Execu- 
tion of  Strafford,  May,  1641. 

COMPLICATIONS  IN  SCOTLAND. — TUMULT  AT  EDINBURGH. 
—THE  COVENANT,  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,  THE  RE- 
TREAT OF  CHARLES,  AND  THE  FOURTH  PARLIAMENT. 
APRIL,  1640. 

BEFORE  Charles  I.  learnt  to  make  Scotland  a  counter- 
poise to  England,  and  to  keep  one  nation  in  check  by 
means  of  the  other,  he  had  regarded  Scotland  as  an  English 
province  which  would  submit  to  regulations  common  to  the 
two  countries  with  a  better  grace  than  England.  This  arose 
from  a  great  misunderstanding  of  their  relations  with  each 
other. 

The  Scotch  nobles,  with  their  extensive  possessions,  and 
great  power  over  submissive  vassals,  could  much  more 
easily  than  the  English  resolve  upon  armed  resistance  to 
the  crown ;  and  during  the  minority  of  James  they  had  be- 
come very  unruly.  Together  with  this  overbearing  aris- 
tocracy there  was  a  clergy,  who  since  the  time  of  Knox  had 
been  filled  with  almost  republican  ideas  of  self-government. 
The  two  foes,  therefore,  of  the  king's  autocracy  in  England 
were  even  more  powerful  and  more  dangerous  in  Scotland. 

What  course  did  Charles  take  in  order  to  control  them  ? 
He  attempted  to  put  the  country  into  the  power  of  a  highly 
privileged  state  church,  to  intrust  the  highest  offices  in  the 
state  to  a  number  of  prelates,  who  were  to  keep  the  nobles 
and  the  Presbyterians  in  check  by  the  same  means  and  on 


632  THE   REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

the  same  principles  as  those  employed  by  Laud  and  his 
party  in  England.  One  archbishop  was  made  Chancellor, 
nine  bishops  composed  the  privy  council,  prelates  were  in  the 
treasury  and  in  the  highest  courts.  This  gave  great  offence 
to  the  ambitious  nobles,  and  occasioned  great  excitement 
among  the  inferior  clergy  who  ruled  the  masses. 

Instead  of  liberty  of  preaching,  which  was  the  usage, 
strict  episcopal  jurisdiction  was  introduced ;  instead  of 
synods,  presbyteries,  and  all  sorts  of  other  civic  and  eccle- 
siastical liberties,  prelatical  despotism  was  to  be  the  order 
of  the  day ;  the  existing  state  of  things  had  prevailed  for 
thirty  years  ;  the  system  which  was  now  to  replace  it,  and 
had  partially  replaced  it  under  James  I.,  implied  a  complete 
revolution,  the  worst  of  which  was  still  unknown,  and  all 
this  was  the  work  of  "  Popery,"  the  very  sound  of  which 
made  the  Presbyterian  blood  boil. 

Ever  since  1635,  when  the  canons  respecting  the  judicial 
authority  of  the  bishops  were  proclaimed,  an  ominous  un- 
easiness was  observable  ;  but  when  the  catholicising  liturgy 
was  introduced,  which  had  given  so  much  offence  in  Eng- 
land, the  outbreak  took  place. 

When  divine  service  was  performed  for  the  first  time  in 
July,  1637,  in  the  Cathedral  of  Edinburgh,  according  to  the 
hated  method,  a  noisy  mob  rushed  in,  exclaiming,  "  A  pope, 
a  pope  !  Antichrist,  stone  him  !  "  they  threw  chairs  at  the 
bishop,  insulted  the  clergy,  and,  after  being  with  difficulty 
turned  out,  they  filled  the.whole  city  with  scenes  of  tumult,  and 
the  bishops  scarcely  escaped  being  stoned  on  their  way  home. 

There  was  no  European  country  where  the  masses  were 
so  ruled  by  Calvinism  as  in  Scotland,  but  the  indignation 
which  showed  itself  in  these  stormy  scenes  surprised  both 
friends  and  foes.  The  whole  nation  made  the  cause  of  the 
mob  its  own.  Balaam's  ass,  as  it  was  said  in  every  pulpit, 
was  otherwise  a  stupid  beast,  but,  to  the  astonishment  of 
everybody,  the  Lord  loosed  his  tongue. 

Charles  remained  firm  to  his  purpose  in  spite  of  all  repre- 
sentation; he  proclaimed  an  amnesty,  but  declared  at  the 
same  time  that  he  hoped  for  ready  submission  to  the  liturgy, 
and  so  that  took  place  which  was  now  inevitable.  Representa- 
tives of  the  greater  and  lesser  nobles,  the  clergy,  and  the 
towns,  met  together  and  formed  a  provisional  government, 
which  found  willing  obedience  throughout  the  country,  and 
signed  a  covenant  against  any  religious  innovations,  "  To  the 


THE   COVENANT.  633 

greater  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  their  King  and 
country."  The  whole  nation  joined  in  it  without  distinction 
of  age,  rank,  or  sex ;  even  the  highest  nobles  did  not  hold 
back,  for  they  feared  that  they  should  be  left  in  complete 
isolation  if  they  did  not  follow  the  stream.  This  was  the 
famous  Covenant  of  the  ist  of  March,  1638. 

The  King  was  compelled  to  give  way,  for  he  stood  without 
an  army,  between  two  nations — one  of  which  was  in  a  state 
of  discontent,  the  other  in  open  rebellion.  The  way  in 
which  he  retreated,  step  by  step,  from  the  growing  demands 
of  the  Scotch,  showed  that  he  was  only  succumbing  to 
necessity  and  betrayed  his  real  weakness.  Of  all  the  modes 
of  settlement  proposed  by  Charles,  the  only  one  accepted 
was  a  General  Assembly,  which  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  turn 
to  his  own  purposes,  but  at  its  first  meeting  it  almost  openly 
proclaimed  revolution. 

Amidst  a  vast  concourse,  the  General  Assembly  was  opened 
at  Glasgow,  on  November  2ist,  1638.  After  the  previous 
experience  of  the  Royal  Commissioner,  Hamilton,  the  spirit 
of  the  proceedings  might  easily  have  been  foreseen.  The 
first  act  of  the  assembly  was  to  bring  an  accusation  against 
all  the  bishops,  of  heresy,  simony,  bribery,  perjury,  deceit, 
bloodshed,  adultery,  fornication,  drunkenness,  gaming,  sab- 
bath-breaking, &c.  When  the  bishops  protested,  the  Royal 
Commissioner  dissolved  the  assembly  for  going  beyond  its 
province ;  it  met  again,  and  declared  the  episcopal  power, 
the  high  commissioners,  the  canons,  the  liturgy,  everything, 
in  short,  which  the  last  two  Stuarts  had  re-introduced  into 
the  Scotch  Church,  null  and  void. 

The  King  now  seemed  to  intend  to  resort  to  arms.  A  fine 
army  of  20,000  foot,  6,000  horse,  supported  by  a  fleet 
manned  by  3,000  men,  was  raised,  and  was  to  summon  the 
rebels  into  the  field  again,  when  Charles  suddenly  changed 
his  mind.  The  fear  of  a  revolt  in  his  rear,  the  conviction  that 
he  was  not  strong  enough  to  subdue  two  nations,  one  only  of 
which  was  at  least  a  match  for  his  troops,  caused  him  to 
turn  round.  He  yielded  to  the  Scots,  conceded  all  that  the 
General  Assembly  had  demanded,  and  was  disposed  again 
to  try  an  English  Parliament,  which  should  grant  him  the 
means  for  a  war  with  Scotland,  a  fatal  step,  for  if  it  failed  it 
was  sure  to  result  in  just  what  he  wished  to  avoid.  It  was 
certain  that  the  Scots  would  remain  under  arms,  and  pro- 
bable that  the  English  would  begin  to  defend  themselves. 


634      THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

For  ten  years  the  laws  of  the  land  had  been  set  at  defiance. 
It  was  only  the  difficulty  with  Scotland  which  had  caused 
them  to  be  respected  again.  The  cause  of  Scotland  was 
also  the  cause  of  the  English  opposition.  What  could  be 
expected  from  a  Parliament  assembled  under  such  circum- 
stances ? 

The  fourth  Parliament  of  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  was  opened 
on  the  1 3th  of  April. 

The  King  had  generally  been  in  a  great  hurry  to  ask  for 
money,  and  this  time  he  could  not  brook  the  least  delay. 
"  Never,"  he  said  "  has  a  king  had  more  serious  and  urgent 
need  to  appeal  to  his  people  than  I  at  this  moment."  On 
account  of  a  letter  having  been  intercepted  from  some  Scotch 
lords  to  the  King  of  France,  the  Lord  Keeper,  Finch,  de- 
manded the  means  for  a  campaign  against  the  Scotch  traitors, 
which  was  to  take  place  during  the  summer  of  the  same  year, 
but  the  urgency  of  these  appeals  contrasted  strangely  with 
the  inevitable  assurance  that  the  Parliament  owed  the  honour 
of  being  called  together  solely  to  the  paternal  favour  of  the 
most  just,  most  religious,  and  most  gracious  of  princes. 
With  this  exception,  the  speech  was  as  gracious  as  the 
former  ones,  and  contained  besides,  the  assurance  that  the 
grievances  should  be  redressed — if  the  subsidies  were  first 
granted. 

Parliament  was  not  taken  in  by  this.  It  now  comprised 
members  who  especially  condemned  the  system  of  Strafford 
and  Laud.  Even  those  who,  compared  with  the  Puritans, 
might  be  called  Royalists,  were  now  in  the  opposition. 
They  afterwards  separated,  but  at  that  time  there  was  but 
one  party  in  the  assembly,  and  it  abhorred  the  existing 
regime. 

It  is  highly  interesting  to  watch  the  proceedings  of  this 
short  Parliament,  to  observe  how  indignation  at  the  abuses 
of  the  last  eleven  years  now  found  expression.  Even  had 
the  House  been  disposed  to  suppress  these  sentiments,  the 
.petitions  that  poured  in  from  the  counties  would  not  have 
permitted  them  to  be  silent. 

The  first  words  uttered  in  the  House  were  an  evidence 
of  the  state  of  feeling.  A  Mr.  Grimstone  declared  that  the 
Scotch  business  was  an  evil  without,  while  there  was  another 
within  their  own  House  which  deeply  affected  them  all. 
The  commonweal  was  shamefully  trodden  underfoot,  their 
property  and  liberties  attacked,  the  Church  divided,  the 


CHARLES'S   FOURTH  PARLIAMENT.  635 

Gospel  and  its  followers  persecuted,  and  the  country 
swarmed  with  greedy  caterpillars,  the  worst  of  all  Egyptian 
plagues,  &c. 

Pym  then  rose  :  he  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  speakers 
of  the  opposition  ;  a  Puritan  in  his  religious  opinions,  and 
now  beginning  to  adopt  their  political  principles.  In  a 
speech  of  three  hours  he  described  the  distressed  state  of 
the  nation.  He  divided  the  sins  of  the  Government  into 
three  groups.  In  the  first,  he  included  the  infringements  of 
the  liberties  and  privileges  of  Parliament  during  the  last 
eleven  years ;  in  the  second,  the  religious  innovations  ;  in 
the  third,  the  charges  on  property.  But  in  all  three  it  was 
his  wish  to  maintain  the  great  prerogative  of  the  Crown,  that 
"  the  King  can  do  no  wrong."  In  a  pregnant  and  compre- 
hensive speech,  everything  that  had  occurred  was  reviewed, 
from  the  treatment  of  the  last  Parliament  to  the  latest  acts 
of  violence.  It  formed  a  complete  bill  of  indictment 
against  the  system  of  the  past  eleven  years ;  nothing  was 
omitted. 

The  House  next  moved  for  a  report  of  the  proceedings 
against  certain  members  of  Parliament,  and  appointed  a 
committee  upon  the  infringement  of  the  privileges  of  Par- 
liament, and  all  other  grievances  collectively. 

The  King  urged  that  the  subsidies  should  be  granted 
first,  and  the  grievances  discussed  afterwards.  Flattering 
assurances  were  given  about  the  ship-money,  tonnage  and 
poundage,  &c.,  but  it  was  resolved  that  the  grievances 
should  have  the  precedence.  Pym's  classification  was 
adopted,  and  they  were  communicated  to  the  Lords.  They 
were  for  granting  the  subsidies  first,  but  the  Commons 
adhered  to  their  resolution,  and  after  being  repeatedly  urged 
in  vain  to  depart  from  it  by  the  King,  both  Houses  were 
dissolved. 

It  was  the  fourth  Parliament  which  Charles  had  dissolved, 
and  it  was  the  last.  The  next  was  to  put  an  end  to  his 
reign. 

Parliament  had  revealed  the  helpless  isolation  of  the  King. 
By  that  speech  of  Pym's  the  whole  character  of  the  system 
•was  laid  bare  to  the  country.  Every  individual  had,  in- 
deed, had  complaints  to  make,  but  with  the  then  scanty 
press  they  had  been  individual  grievances.  It  was  Pym  who 
had  first  given  an  exhaustive  description  of  the  state  of 
things  from  these  abundant  materials,  and  a  fearful  bill  of 


636       THE  REVOLUTION  JN  ENGLAND. 

indictment  it  was  which  was  now  circulated  through  the 
country  in  newspapers,  pamphlets,  and  speeches. 

Compelled  by  events  in  Scotland  once  more  to  summon 
a  Parliament,  the  King  had  now  committed  the  gravest 
error.  He  had  inspired  the  hopeless  with  courage,  fatally 
embittered  the  irritated,  and  given  them  by  his  own  acts  a 
handle  for  a  fearful  agitation. 

THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. — FIRST  MEASURES  AGAINST  THE 
POLICY  AND  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  STRAFFORD'S  SYSTEM. 
— NOVEMBER,  1640,  TO  SEPTEMBER,  1641. 

The  King's  resources  were  now  on  the  decline.  By  a 
final  effort  the  courtiers  and  Catholic  priests  whom  the  King 
had  enriched  at  the  expense  of  the  country  were  compelled 
to  submit  to  a  loan,  and  the  campaign  against  the  Scots 
was  begun.  They  were  already  on  the  frontier  when  the 
Royalists  advanced.  Amidst  perpetual  assurances  of  loyalty 
— they  only  came  to  lay  their  wishes  personally  at  the  King's 
leet — their  splendid  army  crossed  the  Tweed,  and  routed 
the  vanguard  of  the  Royalists  on  the  first  attack,  so  that  the 
whole  army  fell  into  a  panic.  The  money  was  soon  ex- 
hausted, the  soldiers  mutinied,  and  the  King  lost  courage. 
Strafford  tried  in  vain  to  inspirit  him  and  to  persuade  him 
to  a  rapid  advance  which  should  decide  everything.  He 
was  already  thinking  of  negotiating,  and  a  last  attempt  to 
help  himself  by  a  House  of  submissive  peers  having  failed, 
he  again  summoned  Parliament. 

This  was  the  remarkable  assembly  called  the  Long  Par- 
liament. It  survived  the  kingdom  of  the  Stuarts,  resisted 
another  powerful  government,  was  several  times  condemned 
to  death  and  called  together  again  ;  its  history  is  insepa- 
rable from  the  general  course  of  English  politics  to  the 
Restoration.  It  was  incontestably  the  most  important 
representation  that  the  people  had  ever  had.  Not  that 
there  were  no  weak  elements  in  it — vacillation  and  indeci- 
sion were  not  wanting  in  its  attitude ;  but  it  carried  on  the 
contest  with  absolutism  with  great  energy  at  a  time  when 
it  was  triumphing  in  the  whole  of  Europe,  without  excep- 
tion, and  it  afterwards  gave  Cromwell  plenty  to  do.  It  was 
now  in  its  prime  ;  it  ruled  England  for  several  years,  was 
dispersed  by  Charles,  but  rose  up  again  over  his  grave. 
In  its  debates  we  do  not  find  a  single  voice  raised  for  his 


THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  637 

system ;  all  the  men  were  in  it  who  led  the  subsequent 
movement. 

At  the  time  of  its  assembling  the  whole  situation  already 
bore  a  revolutionary  character,  not  of  the  wild  and  noisy 
sort  that  prevailed  in  France — it  never  came  to  a  mobo- 
cracy — partly  because  the  middle  class  enjoyed  more  confi- 
dence, and  had  retained  more  independence,  partly  because 
the  Revolution  was  early  under  military  control,  and  a 
Cromwell,  statesman  and  soldier  in  one  person,  was  utterly 
wanting  in  France ;  but  excited  passions,  stormy  meetings, 
stirring  sermons  were  not  wanting  in  England  any  more 
than  in  France,  there  was  even  a  spice  of  terrorism.  Woe 
would  have  been  to  him  who  ventured  openly  to  oppose  Par- 
liament and  its  adherents.  The  press  worked  upon  the 
masses  by  means  of  sermons,  pamphlets,  and  speeches,  and 
London,  now  a  powerful  city,  headed  the  movement. 

The  Long  Parliament  was  ready  with  a  decisive  and 
systematic  attack,  not  only  on  the  system  and  its  abuses, 
but  also  on  the  representatives  of  the  policy  of  the  last 
eleven  years.  It  was  stormed  with  petitions  and  com- 
plaints against  the  numberless  abuses  of  the  administration, 
and  again  Pym  passed  them  systematically  under  review ; 
but  it  was  clearly  seen  that  nothing  could  be  accomplished 
without  the  severest  measures  against  the  originators  of  all 
this  evil.  Laud,  Secretary  Windebank,  Finch,  keeper  of 
the  great  seal,  and  inventor  of  the  ship  money,  were 
accused  of  high  treason,  and  were  ordered  to  be  arrested, 
as  well  as  the  judges  who  had  been  subservient  to  them, 
and  the  lords  were  powerless  to  prevent  it.  Finch  and 
Windebank  escaped,  Strafford  was  in  Ireland,  Laud  could 
do  nothing ;  the  King  found  himself  already  forsaken  by 
his  advisers.  In  this  helpless  situation,  he  was  obliged  to 
give  his  sanction  to  a  bill  which  limited  his  power  of  arbi- 
trarily summoning  and  dismissing  Parliament.  This  was 
the  Triennial  Act.  Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  no  defi- 
nite regulation  on  the  subject.  It  was  now  settled  that  a 
new  Parliament  must  be  called  every  three  years,  and  that 
no  Parliament  could  be  dissolved  without  its  own  consent 
before  the  fiftieth  day. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  this  put  an  end  to  the  old  con- 
tests about  tonnage  and  poundage,  forest-right,  &c.  The 
abolition  of  the  Star  Chamber  and  the  High  Commission 
was  also  the  natural  result  of  the  general  tendencies  of 


638  THE   REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

Parliament.  They  even  went  further,  and  proposed  to 
decimate  the  representation  of  bishops  in  the  Upper  House, 
and  to  reconstitute  it  altogether,  and  thus  to  rob  the  King 
of  his  last  support. 

TRIAL  OF  STRAFFORD,  MAY,  1641. 

Amidst  these  agitated  debates  occurred  the  trial  of  Straf- 
ford.  While  the  storm  was  brewing  in  Parliament  against 
Laud,  Finch,  and  Windebank,  the  most  dangerous  and 
guilty  of  all  the  King's  advisers  was  lord-deputy  of  Ireland, 
where  he  was  trying  to  save  what  might  yet  be  saved.  His 
idea  was  to  hold  his  position  in  Ireland  as  long  as  possible, 
and  thence,  aided  by  the  national  hatred  of  the  Catholic 
Irish  against  the  Anglicans,  to  prepare  a  favourable  and 
perhaps  decisive  diversion  for  the  monarchy.  He  therefore 
advised  the  King  not  to  recall  him,  and,  at  all  events,  not 
to  summon  him  to  London.  I  am  not  of  opinion  that  it 
was  care  for  his  personal  safety  which  induced  him  to  give 
this  advice,  but  rather  that,  if  there  was  still  any  way  of 
escape,  these  were  the  right  tactics  for  the  King,  hedged  in 
as  he  was  by  two  rebellious  kingdoms  to  endeavour  to  secure 
the  support  of  the  third,  and  to  make  it  the  seat  of  a 
counter  movement.  It  was  soon  to  be  shown  that  to 
summon  Strafford  to  London  was  the  very  worst  thing  he 
could  do. 

Very  early  during  the  session  an  indictment  against  him 
was  carried  by  a  committee  of  both  Houses,  and  the  King 
commanded  his  presence  in  London.  In  Ireland,  with  the 
army,  he  might  still  have  served  the  King  ;  but  before  Par- 
liament the  cause  of  both  would  be  lost.  But  the  King 
insisted.  He  promised  that  not  a  hair  of  Strafford's  head 
should  be  hurt,  though  he  could  no  longer  insure  his  own 
safety.  It  was  a  fatal  mistake  to  expose  his  faithful  minister 
to  the  fury  of  Parliament,  and  Strafford's  last  words 
expressed  the  suspicion  that  the  King  intended  to  sacrifice 
him.  I  do  not  say  this  ;  but  it  was  in  the  highest  degree 
imprudent  to  sacrifice  the  only  friend  he  had  in  the  three 
kingdoms. 

Strafford  had  scarcely  arrived  in  London  when  the  storm 
broke  over  him.  Pym  made  a  long  speech,  to  show  that  in 
the  abuses  of  the  previous  eleven  years  there  had  been  a 
systematic  attempt  to  destroy  the  ancient  rights  of  the 
country,  and  to  exchange  its  chartered  liberties  for  a 


TRIAL   OF   STRAFFORD.  639 

modern  despotism.  And  who  was  the  originator  of  the 
scheme?  The  King?  By  no  means.  With  a  certain 
irony  he  still  held  to  the  dogma,  that  the  King  can  do  no 
wrong.  He  then  went  on  to  say  that  though,  doubtless, 
many  evil  counsellors  had  worked  together,  one  could  be 
mentioned  who  took  the  foremost  place  in  guilt  among  the 
betrayers  of  the  country.  This  was  the  Earl  of  Strafford. 

Then  follows  a  long  list  of  sins,  in  which,  according  to 
the  fashions  of  the  time,  the  blemishes  of  private  life  by  no 
means  occupy  the  lowest  place. 

Strafford  arrived  too  late  to  occupy  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  to  prevent  the  passing  of  the  Bill.  When  he 
appeared  it  had  already  passed,  and  he  had  to  listen  to  the 
indictment  on  his  knees,  and  then  to  go  as  a  State  prisoner 
to  the  Tower.  Not  a  voice  was  raised  in  his  favour.  Falk- 
land only,  his  personal  enemy,  gave  a  warning  against  hasty 
and  irregular  proceedings. 

The  trial  before  the  House  of  Lords  did  not  begin  till 
March,  1641.  The  accusation  of  high  treason  was  more 
easily  made  than  proved.  There  was  no  doubt  as  to  what 
constituted  high  treason  according  to  English  law ;  but  the 
ordinary  conception  of  it  did  not  agree  with  the  accusa- 
tions against  Strafford.  According  to  a  statute  of  Edward 
III.,  high  treason  was  an  injury  to  the  King,  his  person, 
family,  or  authority ;  but  there  was  nothing  about  an  attempt 
to  upset  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  country.  The  other 
accusations  against  him  were  of  a  number  of  separate 
crimes  which  could  not  be  construed  into  high  treason 
against  the  country. 

It  was  upon  this  weakness  of  the  indictment  that  his  mas- 
terly defence  was  based. 

He  spoke  not  only  with  the  power  of  an  orator  of  the 
first  rank,  he  exhibited  the  repose  and  confidence  of  a  clear 
conscience  :  he  conducted  his  case  as  if  not  he,  but  his 
accusers,  were  guilty  of  distorting  and  wishing  to  overthrow 
the  laws  of  the  land,  and  he  also  struck  those  chords  which 
touch  the  feelings.  It  was  only  for  the  sake  of  his  chil- 
dren whom  he  held  by  the  hand,  he  said  in  conclusion, 
that  he  had  so  long  claimed  their  lordships'  attention.  He 
awaited  a  just  sentence,  and  commended  his  soul  to  heaven. 

The  effect  of  this  speech  was  so  powerful,  as  is  testified 
even  by  his  opponents,  that  the  Commons  doubted  whether 
the  Lords  would  find  him  guilty.  They  immediately 


640  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

resolved  upon  an  exceptional  measure.  If  there  was  a  gap 
in  the  laws,  Parliament  had  power  to  fill  it  up.  This  was 
done  by  bringing  in  a  Bill  of  Attainder,  which  was  carried 
by  a  large  majority.  A  Bill  of  Attainder  declared  him 
who  was  affected  by  it  to  be  beyond  the  law.  It  had  often 
been  adopted  under  Henry  VIII.,  but  only  as  a  weapon  of 
despotism  and  lawless  power.  By  such  a  law  Strafford  was 
condemned,  and  suffered  death  on  the  nth  of  May. 

He  met  death  with  the  composure  and  resolution  of  a 
martyr  in  a  holy  cause.  Without  bitterness  he  requested 
the  King  to  ratify  the  sentence,  and  only  when  it  was  done 
he  exclaimed,  "  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes,  nor  in  the 
sons  of  men,  for  in  them  there  is  no  salvation." 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

OPEN  BREACH  BETWEEN  THE  KING  AND 
PARLIAMENT.* 

The  King  in  Scotland,  August,  1641.  —  Massacre  of  the  Protestants  in 
Ireland.  —  Return  of  Parliament  in  October,  and  the  Separation  of 
Parties  into  Cavaliers  and  Roundheads.  —  The  Great  Remonstrance, 
November,  and  the  unsuccessful  Coup  d'£  tat,  January  3  and  4,  1642. 
—  Commotions  in  London.  —  The  First  Parliamentary  Army.  —  De- 
parture of  the  King.  —  Return  of  Parliament,  January  II,  1642. 

THE  KING  IN  SCOTLAND  ;  THE  MASSACRE  IN  IRELAND.  — 
RETURN  OF  PARLIAMENT.  —  CAVALIERS  AND  ROUND- 
HEADS. 


OBBED  of  his  last  weapons  of  defence,  the  King 
hoped  to  break  the  force  of  the  storm  by  prudent 
temporising,  to  subjugate  his  adversaries  by  causing  divi- 
sions among  them,  and,  having  secured  breathing  time  in 
one  place,  to  make  himself  master  of  another. 

While  the  Commons,  elated  by  their  late  success,  were 
proceeding  to  effect  radical  changes  in  Church  and  State,  to 
overthrow  the  episcopal  constitution  in  the  one,  and  to 
limit  the  royal  power  in  the  other,  so  as  to  render  it  com- 
pletely impotent,  Charles  had  a  grand  scheme  for  ridding 
himself  of  all  his  oppressors. 

He  informed  Parliament  that  he  should  go  in  person  to 
Scotland,  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  between  the  two 
countries.  His  idea  was  to  effect  a  separation  between  the 
causes  of  the  two  countries,  to  re-establish  in  the  north  the 

*  Forster,  Debates  of  the  Great  Remonstrance,  November  and 
December,  1641;  London,  1860.  The  sime,  Arrest  of  the  Five 
Members  by  Charles  I.  History  of  the  Rebellion,  by  Werth,  from 
authentic  materials,  chiefly  from  Clarendon.  Review  of  it  by  Forques 
"Revue  des  deux  Mondes;"  April,  1861,  and  February,  1862.  (The 
following  representation  is  mainly  based  upon  this.) 

T  T 


642  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

royal  authority,  of  which  he  was  so  destitute  in  the  south, 
to  gain  a  strong  party  among  the  discontented,  and  espe- 
cially the  royalist  nobles  of  the  army  just  dismissed,  and  to 
collect  proofs  of  high  treason  against  his  enemies. 

At  his  desire,  Parliament  prorogued  itself  till  his  return, 
but  amidst  circumstances  which  plainly  indicated  great  dis- 
content. Before  separating,  both  Houses  formed  a  com- 
mittee, of  which  Pym  was  president.  Another  committee 
was  to  accompany  the  King  to  Scotland. 

In  the  middle  of  August,  Charles  appeared  in  Scotland. 
Men's  minds  were  taken  by  storm.  No  native  king  had 
ever  been  so  popular  as  was  this  same  Charles,  against 
whom  they  had  just  taken  the  field. 

Peace  was  soon  made  ;  but,  at  what  a  price  !  Charles 
relinquished  nearly  all  the  crown  rights  that  he  had  yet  to 
lose.  It  was  not  surprising  that  the  Scots  should  demand 
the  Triennial  Bill,  since  it  had  received  the  King's  sanction 
in  England,  but  the  right  was  also  granted  to  the  Scotch 
Parliament  at  the  end  of  every  session  to  determine  when 
and  where  the  next  should  be  held.  It  was  also  to  nomi- 
nate all  the  King's  ministers,  judges,  and  officers  of  State, 
and  he  had  at  once  to  submit  to  see  his  adherents  super- 
seded in  the  public  offices  by  his  opponents.  He  even 
loaded  with  honours  and  pensions  the  Presbyterian  ministers 
whom  he  could  never  hope  to  gain  for  his  cause,  and  felt 
himself  rewarded  when  the  leaders  promised  never  to  inter- 
fere in  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  England. 

While  this  reconciliation  was  going  on  a  fearful  revolt 
broke  out  in  Ireland,  which  showed  what  Strafford  had  been 
doing  there. 

One  of  the  most  serious  accusations  against  Strafford  had 
been  his  despotism  as  governor  of  Ireland.  It  was  sup- 
posed, therefore,  that  as  a  matter  of  course,  with  his  fall 
the  harsh  government  by  which  he  had  coerced  the  country, 
and  made  its  resources  and  troops  available  to  England, 
would  cease.  Ireland  claimed  the  same  rights  that  had 
been  granted  to  England  and  Scotland,  but,  as  things  were, 
this  would  have  produced  absolute  anarchy,  and  this  was 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  old  Catholic  party  for  waging  a 
cruel  war  of  revenge  against  the  English  Protestants  in 
Ireland. 

The  Catholic  Irish  formed  five-sixths  of  the  population, 
the  other  sixth  being  English  colonists,  and  under  Stafford's 


MASSACRE  OF  PROTESTANTS  IN  IRELAND.       643 

iron  rule,  the  former  had  enjoyed  a  certain  toleration  of  their 
faith,  and  might  have  expected  the  same  from  Charles  and  his 
Catholicising  system.  But  they  could  not  look  for  it  from 
the  nearly  all-powerful  Puritans  ;  from  them  they  could  but 
expect  the  oft-threatened  extermination  of  "  Popery."  To 
add  to  this,  there  was  the  ancient  national  hatred,  and  the 
memory  of  the  revenge  on  the  Ulster  rebels,  whose  enor- 
mous possessions  had,  under  James  I.,  been  conferred  on 
thousands  of  English  and  Scotch  immigrants.  A  horrible 
massacre  of  the  Protestants  now  took  place  by  the  fanatical 
Catholics.  The  project  had  been  formed  in  the  deepest 
secrecy,  and  many  thousands  of  the  unsuspecting  English 
were  murdered  almost  in  their  sleep.  The  barbarous  cruelties 
by  which  this  massacre  was  accompanied,  and  which  were 
inflicted  by  men,  women,  and  even  children,  are  enough  to 
make  one's  hair  stand  on  end.  The  lowest  figure  at  which 
the  number  of  victims  is  reckoned  is  forty  thousand. 

The  Irish  rebels  declared  that  they  were  fighting  for  throne 
and  altar,  Pope  and  King.  Even  apart  from  these  declara- 
tions, Charles's  enemies  gave  him  credit  for  having  instigated 
the  revolt.  It  was  known  that  he  wished  to  have  employed 
the  Scots  against  Parliament ;  it  was  known  that  he  made 
all  manner  of  attempts  to  draw  the  Royalists  in  Parliament 
over  to  his  cause,  to  destroy  the  leaders  of  the  opposition — 
why  should  he  disdain  to  bring  the  Irish  into  the  field 
against  them  also  ? 

We  can  say  almost  to  a  certainty  that  this  supposition 
was  false.  For  a  conspiracy  of  this  sort  projected  by  the 
King  himself,  a  more  favourable  moment  would  certainly 
have  been  chosen;  and  if  support  from  this  quarter  had 
been  looked  for,  the  conduct  of  the  conspiracy  would  have 
been  committed  to  such  a  man  as  Strafford,  not  to  such 
persons  as  Phelim  O'Neale  or  Roger  More,  whose  loyalty 
could  by  no  means  be  relied  on. 

Pym,  the  watchful  president  of  the  committee,  had  taken 
care  to  guard  Parliament  against  Royalist  intrigues.  In 
spite  of  Charles's  great  caution,  Pym  was  informed  by 
Hampden  of  all  his  proceedings,  and  the  report  which  he 
made  to  Parliament  when  it  reassembled,  on  October  zoth, 
was  so  serious,  that  it  was  resolved  at  once  to  place  London 
in  a  state  of  siege,  and  to  guard  both  Houses  by  train-bands 
night  and  day.  This  was  an  obvious  interference  with  the 
prerogative  of  the  crown;  but  this  was  dexterously  dis- 


644      THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

guised,  by  devolving  the  command  on  the  popular  Earl  of 
Essex,  who  had  been  intrusted  by  the  King  with  this  office 
during  his  absence.  A  member,  then  unknown,  but  who 
excited  attention  by  his  vehemence,  Oliver  Cromwell,  pro- 
posed to  call  out  all  the  militia  of  the  kingdom  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  country — the  germ  of  the  Parliamentary  army, 
which  he  was  afterwards  to  lead. 

A  further  step  was  taken.  The  King  was  petitioned  to 
dismiss  his  evil  counsellors ;  otherwise  Parliament,  in  spite 
of  its  loyalty,  would  be  compelled  to  take  measures  for  its 
own  security  and  that  of  Ireland.  By  his  evil  counsellors 
were  meant  Hyde,  Colepepper,  Falkland,  and  others,  who 
had  formerly  led  the  attack  against  Stafford's  system,  but 
were  now  on  the  King's  side. 

This  throws  a  strong  light  upon  the  party  divisions  which 
during  the  six  weeks'  prorogation  had  taken  place  in  the 
previously  compact  mass.  Against  the  Star  Chamber,  the 
High  Commission,  tonnage  and  poundage,  Parliament  had 
stood  together  like  one  man.  There  had  also  been  an 
overwhelming  majority  in  favour  of  the  security  and  increase 
of  the  privileges  of  Parliament ;  and  even  amongst  the  mem- 
bers, about  sixty,  who  had  voted  against  the  Bill  of 
Attainder  against  Strafford,  those  who  were  now  to  show 
that  the  race  of  Strafford  was  by  no  means  extinct,  were  not 
found. 

But  now  two  hostile  parties  confronted  each  other,  and  on 
all  decisive  questions  there  was  but  a  small  majority  and  a 
very  strong  minority;  these  were  the  Cavaliers  and  Round- 
heads. 

The  one  party  consisted  mainly  of  all  the  Catholics  in  the 
country,  who  sought  in  the  regal  power  a  support  against 
the  radicalism  of  the  Puritans — the  superior  clergy,  and 
the  royalist  majority  of  the  aristocracy;  the  other  consisted 
of  the  rigid  Protestants  in  town  and  country,  to  whom 
religious  and  political  liberty  was  one  and  the  same  thing. 
The  one  party  wished  to  quell  the  agitation,  so  soon  as  the 
most  necessary  concessions  were  obtained  ;  the  other  would 
not  be  satisfied  so  long  as  the  King  and  popery  retained  the 
least  power  to  infringe  the  laws  of  the  land,  or  to  restrict 
religious  liberty. 

There  was  as  yet  no  Cromwell  at  the  head  of  the  latter 
party,  but  moderate  men  such  as  Hampden,  Holies,  and 
Pym.  Pym's  standpoint  on  the  Church  question  is  shown 


THE   GREAT   REMONSTRANCE.  645 

by  his  confession  of  faith  in  the  short  Parliament  in  April, 
1640.  He  said,  "  I  desire  not  to  have  any  new  laws  made 
against  them  (the  Catholics),  nor  a  strict  execution  of  the 
old  ones,  but  only  so  far  forth  as  tends  to  the  safety  of  his 
Majesty.  There  can  be  no  security  from  Papists  but  in  their 
disability.  Laws  will  not  restrain  them,  oaths  will  not ;  the 
Pope  dispenseth  with  both,  and  his  command  acts  them 
against  the  realm,  in  spirituals  and  in  temporals,  ad  spiri- 
tualia." 

His  opinions  about  the  royal  authority  were  precisely  the 
same.  After  all  their  bitter  experience  it  was  needful  to 
erect  strong  defences  against  the  abuse  of  it,  in  spite  of 
Magna  Charta  and  the  Petition  of  Right. 

THE   GREAT    REMONSTRANCE    AND    THE    UNSUCCESSFUL 
COUP  D'ETAT;  NOVEMBER,  1641,  TO  JANUARY,  1642. 

These  parties  were  most  strongly  opposed  to  each  other, 
when  it  was  proposed  by  Pym  and  his  adherents  that  a 
great  remonstrance  should  be  addressed  to  the  King,  but  it 
was  in  reality  intended  to  be  an  appeal  from  Pym  to  the 
people. 

In  a  lengthy  and  systematic  document,  of  not  less  than 
206  paragraphs,  Pym  drew  up  a  list  of  all  the  grievances 
under  the  rule  of  Charles  I. ;  and  on  the  other  hand  detailed 
the  exertions  of  Parliament  on  behalf  of  English  liberties, 
so  that  the  country  should  be  in  the  possession  of  docu- 
ments which  should  enable  it  to  judge  between  the  King 
and  the  people's  representatives.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
Pym  now  seems  to  have  renounced  the  principle  that 
the  King  can  do  no  wrong,  and  had  adopted  the  idea 
of  his  personal  responsibility.  The  tactics  of  the  Royalists, 
and  especially  of  their  recent  accessions,  were  to  make  this 
question  the  battle-ground  of  debate,  and  to  measure  the 
strength  of  parties  ;  every  inch  of  ground  was  sharply  con- 
tested, single  propositions,  single  words  even,  were  warmly 
debated  for  hours,  every  pretext  for  delay  of  the  motion  was 
eagerly  seized  upon,  as  if  it  were  possible  to  starve  the  enemy 
by  endless  debates.  This  struggle  lasted  from  the  gth  to  the 
2oth  of  November.  Men's  passions  were  naturally  heated  red 
hot.  When  the  arrest  of  members  of  Parliament  came  to  be 
discussed,  Pym  exclaimed,  "  Eliot's  blood  still  cries  for  re- 
venge," and  the  Commons  rose  and  repeated,  "  His  blood 
cries  for  revenue." 


646  THE  REVOLUTION   IN   ENGLAND. 

As  the  Remonstrance  could  neither  be  suppressed  nor 
weakened,  the  royalists  tried  to  effect  that  the  King  only 
should  receive  it,  and  not  the  public,  and  therefore  de- 
manded that  it  should  not  be  printed :  but  Pym  replied  that 
the.  very  object  was  that  England  might  understand  the 
situation  of  affairs,  and  take  the  side  of  those  who  defended 
her  cause.  On  November  22nd,  after  a  last  passionate 
debate,  the  bill  was  passed  by  1 59  votes  against  1 48.  The 
publication  of  the  address  was  also  voted  after  being  vehe- 
mently opposed  by  Hyde  and  Falkland.  After  it  was  passed, 
Cromwell  remarked  to  Falkland,  "  Had  the  remonstrance 
been  rejected,  I  would  to-morrow  have  sold  everything  I 
possess,  and  never  have  seen  England  more,  and  I  know 
many  other  honest  men  of  the  same  resolution."  A  bold 
attempt  by  one  of  the  minority  to  divide  the  House  by  a  pro- 
test by  his  party  failed.  Palmer  who  had  moved  it  was  sent 
to  the  Tower. 

Charles  just  then  returned  from  Scotland,  and  met  with  a 
brilliant  reception  by  the  citizens  of  London;  he  enter- 
tained great  hopes,  and  assumed  a  tone  of  confidence  in 
all  that  he  said  and  did.  The  royalist  heroes  of  the  recent 
debates,  Falkland,  Hyde,  and  Colepepper,  became  his  con- 
fidential advisers,  and  soon  afterwards  officially  entered  his 
service;  theguardof  the  Houses  of  Parliament  were  dismissed; 
and  the  party  of  the  Remonstrance,  when  they  called  attention 
to  the  insecurity  of  the  Palace  of  Westminster,  were  told  that 
so  long  as  it  required  no  guard  Parliament  did  not  require 
one  either. 

After  the  Remonstrance,  both  parties  felt  that  a  crisis  was 
approaching.  Each  reproached  the  other  with  entertaining 
treacherous  projects,  and  by  degrees  the  populace  of 
London  was  in  a  commotion.  About  the  end  of  December 
there  were  several  bloody  skirmishes  between  the  royal 
troops,  joined  by  the  students  of  the  Inns  of  Court,  and  the 
apprentices  and  Thames  watermen  on  the  other  side.  The 
year  ended  amidst  the  most  gloomy  indications,  and  on 
January  3rd,  1642,  the  storm  burst.  The  Commons  were 
just  discussing  a  scornful  message  from  the  King,  who,  to 
their  repeated  requests  for  a  guard,  replied  that  he  himself 
was  their  protector  against  every  danger  —  when  in  the 
Upper  House,  another  royal  message  was  delivered,  accus- 
ing Lord  Kimbolton  and  five  of  the  Commons  of  high 
treason  on  seven  counts.  While  the  discussion  was  going 


ARREST  OF  THE  FIVE  MEMBERS.  647 

on  in  the  Commons,  Pym  and  Hollis  were  called  out. 
They  shortly  returned,  and  Pym  reported  that  his  own, 
Hollis's,  and  Hampden's  dwellings  had  been  entered  and 
their  desks  and  chests  sealed.  The  House  declared  this 
proceeding  to  be  a  crying  abuse  of  their  privileges,  and 
asserted  that  violence  against  any  member  of  the  House  must 
be  met  by  violence.  Just  then  the  Royal  Sergeant  appeared, 
and  demanded  in  the  name  of  the  King  that  the  five  members, 
Hollis,  Haslerig,  Pym,  Hampden,  and  Strode,  should  be 
given  up  on  a  charge  of  high  treason.  The  House  received 
the  message  in  gloomy  silence  ;  no  one  laid  hands  on  the  five 
members  ;  and  it  was  resolved  to  inform  the  King,  by  a  depu- 
tation, that  the  House  would  take  the  King's  demand  into 
serious  consideration,  and  that  the  members  would  be  ready 
to  answer  any  legal  accusation.  This  first  attack  was  there- 
fore warded  off,  but  the  second  followed  the  next  morning. 
After  a  violent  scene  with  the  Queen,  who  is  reported  to 
have  said,  "  Go,  coward,  and  pull  these  rogues  out  by  the 
ears,  or  never  see  me  more,"  the  King  set  out  to  accomplish 
what  his  sergeant  had  failed  to  do.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  sitting,  after  the  accused  had  vehemently  protested 
against  the  "  scandalous  document,"  as  they  called  the  indict- 
ment, and  had  received  permission  to  withdraw,  the  King 
appeared  at  the  head  of  one  hundred  armed  men  before  the 
doors  of  the  House.  Accompanied  by  his  nephew,  Charles 
of  the  Palatinate,  brother  of  Rupert,  he  entered  the  House, 
advanced  with  a  friendly  greeting  to  the  Speaker,  and  begged 
him  to  relinquish  his  place  to  him  for  a  short  time.  Em- 
barrassed and  hesitating,  he  delivered  a  short  speech,  which 
has  been  preserved  to  us  verbatim.  Amidst  assurances 
that  the  privileges  of  the  House  had  not  lain  nearer  to  the 
heart  of  any  monarch  than  to  his,  he  declared  with  strong 
emphasis  that  in  cases  of  high  treason  there  could  be  no 
question  of  privilege ;  he  had,  therefore,  expected  obedience, 
and  not  a  message  in  reply  to  his  yesterday's  summons. 
He  then  looked  round  for  the  well-known  faces  of  his  worst 
foes,  and  not  seeing  them,  asked  where  they  were.  No  one 
answered.  Then  he  turned  with  the  same  question  to  the 
Speaker,  who,  being  a  timid  man,  fell  on  his  knees,  and  said 
that  in  that  place  he  had  neither  eyes  to  see  nor  ears  to  hear 
otherwise  than  as  the  House  directed.  "  Well,"  said  Charles, 
"  since  the  birds  are  flown,  I  do  expect  that  you  will  send 
them  to  me  as  soon  as  they  return  hither,"  otherwise  he  must 


648  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

resort  to  other  means  to  find  them.  "  Their  treason  is  horrible, 
and  is  of  that  kind  that  you  will  all  thank  me  for  discovering." 
Amidst  loud  murmurs,  he  left  the  House. 

The  King  had  proceeded  to  extremities,  and  had  failed. 
He  had  not  secured  the  leaders,  and  had  exposed  himself 
in  an  unexampled  manner.  Up  to  this  time,  he  had  kept 
up  an  appearance  of  wishing  to  keep  the  peace  with  his 
Parliament ;  but  the  scene  of  the  4th  of  January  tore  aside  the 
mask.  He  was  the  old  Charles  of  Strafford'stime,  the  policy 
of  the  last  eleven  years  was  still  uppermost. 

THE  COMMOTION  IN  THE  CAPITAL. — THE  FIRST  PARLIA- 
MENTARY ARMY. — DEPARTURE  OF  THE  KING. 

The  fate  of  the  five  members  depended  mainly  on  the 
attitude  which  might  be  taken  by  the  City  of  London  in  the 
difference  between  King  and  Parliament.  Both  parties 
hoped  for  its  sympathies.  The  excitement  about  the  events 
of  the  4th  of  January  was  indescribable.  At  the  first  news 
of  it  the  shops  were  closed,  business  was  at  a  stand-still,  and 
the  idle  populace  poured  into  the  streets. 

The  King  did  not  believe  that  this  excitement  was  unfavour- 
able to  him.  Had  he  not  met  with  a  warm  reception  in  his 
capital  only  a  few  weeks  before  ?  On  the  morning  of  the 
5th  of  January,  he  proceeded,  without  any  military  escort, 
to  the  Guildhall,  to  encourage  his  friends  and  intimidate  his 
adversaries  ;  but  he  was  assailed  with  curses  and  threats, 
rebellious  voices  were  heard  in  the  Guildhall  itself,  and  on 
his  return  the  people  shouted  after  him  "  Privilege,  privi- 
lege !  " 

While  he  was  making  this  excursion,  the  Commons  were 
declaring  his  proceedings  against  the  five  members,  and 
his  armed  visit  to  Parliament  to  be  an  attack  on  the  rights 
of  the  House,  and  adjourned  for  several  days,  appointing  a 
committee  to  transact  the  current  business.  This  committee 
placed  itself  in  communication  with  the  five  members,  who 
were  concealed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Westminster,  and 
now  came  the  time  when  "  king "  Pym  guided  from  his 
hiding-place  the  very  movement  which  was  to  have  been 
stopped  by  his  arrest. 

Meanwhile  the  London  militia  took  up  arms.  A  dis- 
turbance during  the  night  of  the  Gth-yth  of  January,  a  re- 
port that  the  King  had  sent  out  armed  men  to  take  the  five 
members,  brought  40,000  armed  citizens  to  their  feet  in  the 


THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENTARY  ARMY.  649 

course  of  an  hour.  To  the  100.000  of  the  proletariat,  who, 
since  the  Christmas  of  the  preceding  year,  had  occasionally 
dealt  blows  to  the  cavaliers  with  their  halberds  and  sabres, 
were  now  joined  the  well-to-do  citizens.  The  attitude  of 
the  metropolis  in  the  strife  was  decided  on. 

The  committee  of  Parliament  now  instituted  a  formal 
indictment  against  the  King.  Witnesses  were  called  about 
the  proceedings  of  the  4th  of  January,  the  warrant  for  the 
arrest  of  the  five  members  which  had  been  issued  by  the 
King  alone  was  demanded  from  the  two  sheriffs  of  London, 
and  finally,  in  open  defiance  of  the  King,  it  was  resolved 
that  the  five  members  had  the  right  to  join  the  sittings  of 
the  committee ;  this  they  did,  though  a  royal  mandate  had 
gone  forth  that  no  citizen  of  London  was  to  receive  them, 
nor  furnish  them  with  a  ship  to  emigrate,  and  a  fresh  man- 
date had  been  issued  to  all  officials  to  seize  them  wherever 
found. 

The  committee  went  further  and  further.  The  measures 
taken  by  the  city  for  the  protection  of  Parliament  were 
pronounced  to  be  meritorious,  and  every  one  who  opposed 
them  was  denounced  as  the  enemy  of  his  country ;  a  com- 
mander was  appointed  to  guard  the  fortress  and  city,  and 
for  the  nth  of  January,  the  day  of  the  re-assembling  of  Par- 
liament, all  the  citizens  who  could  bear  arms  were  called 
out.  The  trained  bands  of  the  city  received  their  orders ; 
they  were  joined  by  4,000  farmers  from  Buckinghamshire, 
countrymen  of  Hampden,  who'  declared  that  they  would 
die  at  the  feet  of  Parliament  if  need  were.  The  proletariats 
of  the  workshops,  the  Thames  watermen,  the  militia  of 
Southwark,  offered  themselves  as  a  guard  to  Parliament, 
and  the  committee  was  in  a  position  to  organize  an  impos- 
ing Parliamentary  army  for  the  ceremony  of  the  nth  of 
January.  The  resolution  to  do  this  already  amounted  to 
revolution. 

Parliament  appointed  a  leader  for  the  troops  raised  in 
the  city.  All  the  officers  and  men  had  to  sign  the  Parlia- 
mentary protest  against  the  royal  attempt.  It  was  declared 
to  be  their  duty  to  obey  the  House  in  spite  of  any  other 
orders  or  counter  orders,  and  their  mission  to  repel  any 
attack,  come  whence  it  might.  And  all  this  was  for  the 
protection  of  the  "  King,  the  kingdom,  and  Parliament." 

The  King  had  received  regular  intelligence  of  all  this ; 
with  impotent  rage  he  had  seen  one  piece  of  his  prerogative 


650  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

go  after  the  other.  But  this  was  too  much.  He  could  not 
and  would  not  witness  the  entry  of  Parliament,  the  solemn 
return  of  the  "  traitors,"  whose  death  he  had  sworn.  On 
the  evening  of  the  loth  of  January  he  set  out  with  his  wife 
and  children  for  Hampton  Court. 

The  next  morning,  amidst  indescribable  rejoicings,  the 
five  members  made  their  entry  into  the  city,  which  was 
festively  adorned.  The  banks  of  the  Thames  were  occupied 
by  companies  of  the  militia,  with  copies  of  the  protest  on 
their  pikes.  The  river  was  covered  \viih  boats  and  ships, 
from  which  salutes  quickly  followed  each  other.  The  per- 
secuted members  were  received  on  the  threshold  of  the 
palace  by  the  whole  House. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

Prospects  of  both  Parties. — Victories  of  the  Royalists,  October,  1642, 
to  September,  1643. — Interposition  of  the  Scots. — Presbyterians 
and  Independents. — Defeat  of  the  Royalists  at  Marston  Moor, 
July,  and  at  Newbury,  October,  1644. — Oliver  Cromwell. — The 
Self-denying  Ordinance. 

THE  CIVIL  WAR  ;  PROSPECTS  OF  BOTH  PARTIES. — VIC- 
TORIES OF  THE  ROYALISTS,  OCTOBER,  1642  ;  SEPTEMBER, 
1643. 

/CHARLES  did  not  anticipate  when  he  left  London  that 
^— '  he  would  enter  it  again  as  a  prisoner  of  state.  It  was 
his  hope  rather,  and  many  things  justified  him  in  it,  to 
make  his  entry  into  the  capital  at  no  very  distant  period  as 
victor  over  all  his  enemies.  The  tide  of  revolution  which 
had  risen  so  high  in  the  metropolis  had  not  extended  much 
beyond,  and  not  at  all  to  the  Northern  counties.  The  loyal 
members  of  the  aristocracy,  whose  voices  were  drowned  in 
London  by  the  fury  of  the  populace  and  the  passions  of  the 
majority  in  Parliament,  had  more  scope  elsewhere ;  and  if 
they  had  a  legitimate  centre,  they  might,  with  their  in- 
fluence upon  the  rural  population,  become  a  powerful  instru- 
ment of  royalist  reaction. 

At  York,  where  the  King  fixed  his  temporary  residence, 
he  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  a  daily  increasing  retinue 
from  the  highest  circles  of  the  aristocracy.  Almost  the 
whole  Upper  House,  and  a  strong  minority  in  the  Com- 
mons, joined  his  cause.  Since  Parliament  had  deprived 
the  bishops  of  their  votes,  and  seemed  disposed  to  over- 
throw the  whole  episcopal  constitution,  the  temporal  nobles 
saw  that  their  own  position  in  the  State  was  threatened,  as 
well  as  the  monarchy ;  the  Hotspurs  among  the  Royalists, 


652  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

who,  in  London,  had  been  condemned  to  silence  by  the 
terrorism  of  parties,  now  regained  speech  and  courage ;  the 
moderate  party,  also,  who  had  formerly  opposed  the  absolut- 
ism of  the  ministers  and  the  crown,  saw,  in  the  now  harm- 
less King,  the  last  defence  against  the  ascendancy  of  a 
party  whose  aims  appeared  to  extend  beyond  the  monarchy 
itself.  Parliament  was  undeniably  in  the  path  of  complete 
usurpation.  It  might  be  excused  as  only  the  exercise  of 
the  right  and  duty  of  defence;  but  it  was  nevertheless  a 
fact,  though  all  that  was  decreed  and  done  against  the  King, 
was,  in  accordance  with  the  constitutional  fiction,  done  in 
his  name.  In  the  name  of  the  King,  Parliament  had 
nominated  governors  of  all  the  counties,  with  the  command 
of  all  the  forces,  the  garrisons,  and  fortresses  of  the  king- 
dom, though  the  King  had  naturally  rejected  the  bill  with 
indignation,  for  it  gave  all  the  defences  of  the  country  into 
the  hands  of  Parliament  to  use  against  him.  The  further 
this  was  carried,  the  more  decided  would  be  the  variance 
between  elements  whose  relations  had  hitherto  been  un- 
defined, so  much  the  larger  would  be  the  number  of  the 
King's  followers. 

Both  sides  made  preparations  and  carried  on  negotia- 
tions for  months.  At  length,  in  1642,  Parliament  stated 
its  ultimatum  in  nineteen  demands.  Nothing  less  was 
demanded  than  the  supremacy  of  Parliament  over  the  whole 
State,  the  King  included.  The  King  was  to  choose  his 
advisers  according  to  the  pleasure  of  the  House,  and  with- 
out their  consent  no  act  of  his  was  to  be  valid.  All  officials 
and  the  superior  judges  were  to  be  appointed  with  the  con- 
currence of  Parliament,  and  were  to  be  irremovable.  No 
member  of  the  royal  family  could  contract  marriage  with- 
out the  consent  of  Parliament.  The  laws  against  the 
Catholics  were  to  be  enforced,  and  divine  worship  and 
Church  government  reformed  in  accordance  with  the  resolu- 
tions of  Parliament.  The  militia  laws  were  to  be  under 
Parliament ;  its  jurisdiction  was  to  extend  to  all  sorts  of 
crimes  ;  a  general  amnesty  was  to  be  granted,  with  excep- 
tions which  Parliament  was  to  determine ;  fortresses  and 
castles  could  only  be  disposed  of  in  accordance  with  its 
will ;  and  no  peer  could  be  created  without  consent  of 
both  Houses. 

These  demands  could  not  be  accepted  by  Charles. 

"  These  being  passed,"  he  replied,  "  we  may  be  waited  on 


ROYALIST  SUCCESSES.  653 

bareheaded,  we  may  have  our  hand  kissed,  the  style  of 
Majesty  continued  to  us,  and  the  King's  authority  declared 
by  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  may  be  still  the  style  of 
your  commands ;  we  may  have  swords  and  maces  carried 
before  us,  and  please  ourselves  with  the  sight  of  a  crown 
and  sceptre  (yet  even  these  twigs  would  not  long  flourish 
when  the  stock  upon  which  they  grew  was  dead) ;  but  as 
to  true  and  real  power,  we  should  remain  but  the  outside, 
but  the  picture,  but  the  sign  of  a  King."  * 

This  was  the  last  peaceful  exchange  of  opinions  between 
the  contending  parties ;  from  this  time  it  was  a  question  of 
arms.  In  reviewing  the  forces  of  both,  there  was  a  mani- 
fest disproportion  between  them. 

Deprived  of  his  prerogative,  without  the  fortresses,  ships, 
troops,  arras,  or  money  of  the  kingdom  at  his  disposal, 
when  the  King  raised  his  standard  at  York  he  was  like  an 
adventurous  pretender  aiming  to  overthrow  the  legitimate 
government,  with  a  retinue  of  noble  retainers  and  a  rushing 
stream  of  excited  public  opinion  against  him.  Parliament 
had  all  that  the  King  lacked,  all  the  munitions  of  war  in 
abundance,  and  as  the  money  in  hand  was  not  sufficient  to 
support  the  army,  a  loan  was  issued ;  within  ten  days  the 
treasury  was  filled  with  plate  contributed  by  the  families  of 
the  favourable  party,  to  be  coined  into  money. 

The  levy  of  troops  amidst  the  general  enthusiasm  was 
most  successful. 

Under  the  impression  of  these  things,  the  opinion  might 
well  be  entertained  in  Parliament  that,  if  the  King  did  not 
prefer  to  submit  without  drawing  the  sword,  the  war  would 
be  ended  by  a  single  blow.  But  the  event  was  very 
different. 

The  first  engagement,  on  October  23rd,  at  Edge  Hill, 
did  not  yield  a  decisive  victory  to  either  party ;  but  it 
showed  that  the  Parliamentary  army  had  nothing  equal  to 
the  well-drilled  cavalry  of  the  brave  cavaliers.  Prince 
Rupert  put  the  enemy's  left  wing  to  flight  on  the  first 
assault,  the  right  wing  was  repulsed,  and,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  too  vehement  pursuit  of  the  royal  reserve,  by  which 
the  infantry  was  subjected  to  a  fierce  attack  by  the  Parlia- 
mentary army,  the  day  would  have  been  lost  to  the  latter. 
After  the  confidence  with  which  the  army  of  the  Earl  of 
Essex  had  set  out  from  London,  it  made  the  impression, 
*  Rushworth. 


654      THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

and  produced  the  results,  of  an  actual  defeat.  The  King 
pushed  on  towards  London ;  Parliament  anxiously  began 
to  negotiate,  and  was  not  pacified  till  the  Earl  of  Essex 
was  on  the  spot,  and,  strengthened  by  24,000  of  the 
London  militia,  arrested  the  King's  progress. 

The  King  established  his  winter  quarters  at  Oxford,  the 
only  city  really  true  to  him,  and  made  vigorous  preparations 
for  the  spring  campaign. 

The  year  1643  brought  one  success  after  another  to  the 
Royalist  arms.  The  Earl  of  Newcastle  succeeded  in  sub- 
jecting all  the  northern  counties  to  the  King,  a  political 
progress  against  which  some  military  failures  did  not  weigh 
heavily  in  the  scale.  The  result  was  the  same  in  the  west. 
In  Cornwall  the  Royalist  nobles  rose  against  the  rebellion, 
offered  their  vassals  to  the  King,  drove  two  Parliamentary 
armies,  at  Stratton  and  Lansdown,  from  the  field,  and  after 
Prince  Maurice  had  beaten  Waller,  the  best  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary generals,  at  Roundway  Down,  they  joined  the 
royal  army  at  Oxford.  Prince  Rupert  had  previously  fallen 
upon  and  routed  part  of  Essex's  army,  on  which  occasion 
Hampden  received  a  fatal  wound ;  and  soon  after  Rupert 
stormed  Bristol,  the  second  city  in  the  kingdom. 

On  September  20th,  a  battle  took  place  at  Newbury,  in 
which  Falkland  fell,  and  which  ended  for  the  Earl  of  Essex 
with  an  honourable  retreat  to  London.  In  the  main,  the 
advantage  was  on  the  Royalist  side,  and  the  partial  successes 
won  by  Thomas  Fairfax  and  Oliver  Cromwell  in  the  north  did 
not  effect  a  decision,  as,  soon  after  the  victory  of  Wakefield, 
Fairfax's  army  was  completely  routed  at  Atherton  Moor. 

All  the  energy  of  the  Parliamentary  committee,  of  which 
Pym  was  one,  was  required  to  keep  down  the  discontent 
which  never  fails  to  take  possession  of  a  party  obstinately 
pursued  by.  misfortune. 

The  most  rigid  measures  were  therefore  taken  against 
every  tendency  to  cry  for  peace,  or  to  give  but  a  lukewarm 
support  to  the  war.  Compulsory  taxes  were  levied,  multi- 
tudes of  Royalists  imprisoned  and  robbed  of  their  property, 
and  when  a  conspiracy  was  traced,  the  leaders  were  hung 
before  their  own  doors. 


INTERFERENCE   OF   THE   SCOTCH.  65  5 

INTERFERENCE  OF  THE  SCOTCH. — PRESBYTERIANS  AND 
INDEPENDENTS. — THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1644-5. — DEFEAT 
OF  THE  ROYALISTS  AT  MARSTON  MOOR  AND  NEWBURY. 

The  situation  of  the  Parliamentary  party  had  taken  a 
most  unfavourable  turn.  The  war  which  they  had  hoped  to 
decide  by  a  few  powerful  strokes  had  brought  them  nothing 
but  misfortune.  Their  ill-disciplined  recruits  were  almost 
everywhere  beaten,  and  were  deeply  discouraged ;  the 
generals  were  at  variance,  and  had  lost  confidence  in  their 
party  ;  the  means  for  the  support  of  the  army  were  only  to 
be  obtained  by  the  greatest  exertions ;  unpopular  financial 
measures,  such  as  the  excise  devised  by  Pym,  had  become 
necessary,  and  mutinous  voices  were  heard  among  the 
party. 

In  these  difficulties,  Pym,  who  was  never  at  a  loss  for 
resources,  entered  into  an  understanding  with  the  Scotch 
that  they  should  make  an  unexpected  diversion  in  the  King's 
rear,  just  where  he  had  been  most  successful  during  the  past 
year. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Tweed  the  Royalist  victories  had 
been  watched  with  almost  as  great  anxiety  as  in  London, 
where  an  attack  might  at  any  moment  be  looked  for. 

The  concessions  which  Charles  had  made  in  his  distress, 
in  order  to  separate  the  interests  of  the  two  kingdoms,  were 
so  entirely  opposed  to  his  personal  inclinations  and  past 
policy,  that  no  one  could  suppose  that,  once  victorious  over 
the  English  Parliament,  he  would  be  willing  to  be  merely 
the  shadow  of  a  King  in  Scotland. 

Out  of  the  common  danger  rose  the  alliance,  offensive 
and  defensive,  between  the  Scotch  and  English  Parliament, 
formally  entered  into  on  the  iyth  of  September,  1643. 

According  to  the  words  of  this  treaty,  the  object  of  the 
alliance  was  not  only  to  maintain  the  rights  of  both  Parlia- 
ments against  the  Royalists,  but  to  extirpate  Popery,  episco- 
pacy, and  the  episcopal  form  of  church  government,  and  to 
substitute  a  new  and  reformed  one  in  the  three  kingdoms. 
By  this  the  Scots  intended  the  Presbyterian  form  ;  but  the 
English  had  been  cautious  enough  to  express  their  inten- 
tions in  terms  so  general,  that  the  question  may  be  con- 
sidered an  open  one  :  "  Reform  of  the  Church  in  England 
and  Ireland  according  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  example 
of  the  purest  churches." 


656  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

In  fact,  on  this  point  Parliament  by  no  means  agreed 
with  the  Scots.  By  the  sio>  of  a  minority  of  Anglicans, 
who  secretly  held  to  the  episcopal  constitution  and  the 
semi-Catholic  form  of  worship,  was  the  Presbyterian  party, 
who  favoured  moderate  Calvinistic  views,  mortally  hated 
Popery,  but  would  have  been  well  content  with  the  con- 
tinuance of  episcopal  authority  if  deprived  of  its  political 
privileges,  and  on  this  subject,  as  on  politics,  wished  to  avert 
radical  innovations.  Then  there  were  the  Independents, 
whose  influence  was  increasing.  They  were  the  extreme 
left  of  the  Puritan  party,  and  wished  for  a  formal  revolution 
in  Church  and  State. 

The  Independents  had  constructed  a  religious,  ecclesias- 
tical, and  political  creed  of  their  own,  based  on  the  princi- 
ples of  extreme  Calvinism.  It  was  a  curious  mixture  of 
Old  Testament  reminiscences,  Calvinistic  dogmas,  and 
political  radicalism.  They  had  become  a  sect  of  strong 
mystical  hue  ;  the  preaching  of  the  millennial  kingdom,  then 
speaking  with  tongues  and  religious  ecstasies,  distinguished 
their  worship  from  all  previous  services  ;  their  taste  for  Old 
Testament  names,  a  special  garb,  their  gloomy  strictness 
and  boast  of  monastic  contempt  for  the  world,  made  them 
outwardly  peculiar.  They  hated  not  only  the  Romish 
Church,  and  all  that  the  Anglican  Church  had  retained  of 
its  usages  :  they  wished  to  have  no  priests,  and  held  that 
every  believer  was  a  priest.  No  congregation  of  the 
"  Godly,"  as  they  styled  themselves,  would  tolerate  any  man 
above  it ;  the  strictest  democratic  equality  was  demanded  for 
it  as  a  whole,  though  it  might  be  composed  of  the  dregs  of 
the  people,  as  well  as  for  every  individual ; — was  not  the 
Redeemer  a  carpenter's  son  ?  was  not  his  teaching  addressed 
to  the  weary  and  heavy  laden  ? 

They  were  a  singular  race  of  mortals.  He  who  thinks 
to  dispose  of  them  as  hypocrites,  spares  himself  the  trouble 
of  characterizing  them ;  but  he  does  not  account  for  their 
great  significance.  Hypocrisy  is  not  capable  of  ruling  the 
masses  as  they  ruled  them,  nor  of  dying  for  their  cause  as 
they  died.  They  were  undoubtedly  fanatics  of  the  wildest 
sort,  and  some  of  their  sayings  almost  bear  the  stamp  of 
religious  insanity  ;  but  many  of  them  are  deeply  thought 
out,  and  produced  a  most  powerful  effect.  Cromwell's 
speeches,  with  all  the  Puritanical  flourishes  which  belong 
to  the  fashion  of  the  age,  display  an  earnestness  and 


THE  INDEPENDENTS.  657 

depth,  an  eloquence  and  striking  delineations  of  the 
situation,  which  rise  far  above  any  other  memorials  of  this 
period. 

This  sect  was  profoundly  in  earnest  with  its  creed ;  to 
others  it  might  appear  like  madness,  but  its  members  were 
resolved  to  die  for  it.  They  had  imbibed  with  their 
mothers'  milk  the  rigid  relentless  energy  of  a  struggling 
church,  and  had  maintained  it  in  many  a  conflict.  It  was 
thus  that  they  achieved  extraordinary  success.  A  party, 
which  numbered  scarcely  one-tenth  of  the  nation  among 
its  followers,  ruled  the  three  kingdoms  with  more  effect 
than  ever  an  absolute  government  or  an  assembly  has  ruled 
France ;  and  Cromwell,  though  he  knew  that  almost  the 
whole  kingdom  was  against  him,  not  only  ruled  the  country 
for  ten  years,  but  dictated  laws  to  Europe. 

The  consequences  of  the  civil  war  between  Charles  I. 
and  Parliament,  after  it  had  been  waged  with  decided  ill 
success  by  the  latter,  inspired  no  party  with  such  cool  deter- 
mination as  the  Independents. 

The  fiction  of  a  war  in  "  the  name"  of  him  against  whom 
it  was  waged,  was  at  once  thrown  overboard.  The  idea  of 
the  restoration  of  a  constitution,  which,  just  because  it  was 
impossible  with  this  monarch  had  led  to  war,  was  now  simply 
laid  aside — the  possibility  of  a  reconciliation  with  Charles  I. 
was  no  longer  thought  of.  The  result  was  that  this  party 
alone  waged  war  with  thorough  energy  and  determination  ; 
while  the  Presbyterians,  the  Earl  of  Essex  at  their  head, 
could  not  but  be  accused  of  a  certain  half-heartedness.  They 
wished  for  the  restoration  of  ancient  rights,  forgetting  how 
far  they  had  already  got  beyond  them. 

In  the  following  campaign  this  contrast  was  to  be  fully 
brought  out,  and  the  participation  of  the  Scotch,  however 
much  their  help  might  be  desired,  could  but  help  the  pro- 
cess, for  their  Presbyterian  Church  government  was  almost 
as  hateful  to  the  Independents  as  the  Anglican  itself. 

The  first  decisive  conflict  of  1644  related  to  the  possession 
of  the  northern  counties,  and  their  centre,  York. 

Reinforced  by  the  Scotch,  who  had  been  advancing  since 
February,  and  by  the  army  of  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  in 
which  Cromwell  served,  Fairfax  had  in  the  summer  collected 
a  force  strong  enough  to  undertake  the  assault  of  York  with 
a  prospect  of  success.  The  siege  had  begun  when  Prince 
Rupert  arrived  with  20,000  men,  and  contrived  by  a  dex- 

v  u 


658      THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

terous  operation  to  throw  his  whole  force  into  the  city. 
Contrary  to  the  advice  of  the  Earl  of  Newcastle,  he  gave 
battle  on  the  open  field.  The  greatest  passage  of  arms 
which  the  war  had  hitherto  seen  took  place  on  July  2nd  at 
Marston  Moor.  A  bloody  contest  went  on  for  hours,  but 
Cromwell's  distinguished  generalship  at  length  decided  the 
day,  and  the  Royalists  suffered  a  fearful  defeat.  York,  the 
King's  most  trustworthy  support  in  the  northern  counties, 
was  lost. 

Meanwhile,  two  armies,  under  Essex  and  Waller,  had 
undertaken  a  combined  attack  upon  the  Royal  camp  at 
Oxford,  but  with  these  generals'  usual  want  of  success.  On 
June  29th,  Waller  was  signally  defeated  at  Copraby  bridge ; 
and  on  September  ist,  Essex's  army  was  involved  in  a  great 
defeat,  and  he  himself  only  escaped  in  a  boat. 

But  now  Parliament  put  considerable  reinforcements  at 
their  disposal,  and  commanded  Manchester  and  Cromwell 
to  join  them.  With  these  forces,  the  King  was  again 
attacked,  on  October  2yth,  at  Newbury,  and,  after  an 
obstinate  defence,  driven  back  to  Oxford.  Cromwell  urged 
taking  speedy  advantage  of  the  victory,  so  that  the  war  might 
be  ended  by  a  great  stroke ;  but  this  was  opposed  by 
Manchester,  which  gave  rise  to  fatal  dissensions  between 
these  generals.  Charles  owed  it  to  these  quarrels  alone  that 
he  occupied  his  winter  quarters  without  molestation.  Dur- 
ing this  winter  the  dispute  between  the  Presbyterians  and 
Independents  ended  in  an  open  breach,  and  the  man  who 
was  henceforth  to  influence  so  largely  the  fate  of  England 
and  of  Europe,  come  into  the  foreground. 

OLIVER  CROMWELL.* 

Oliver  Cromwell  was  born  amidst  limited  circumstances, 
on  April  25th,  1599,  at  Huntingdon.  On  his  mother's  side 
he  was  related  to  the  Stuarts,  on  his  father's  to  that  Crom- 
well who  was  for  a  time  minister  to  Henry  VIII. ,  and  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Malleus  Monachorum. 

He  grew  up  in  a  moderately  prosperous  household,  in 
which  Puritan  piety  and  strictness  of  morals  were  old  tradi- 
tions. The  stories  of  his  having  passed  through  a  wild  and 
passionate  youth  have  been  contradicted.  However  bitterly 
his  enemies  might  hate  him,  they  were  compelled  to  allow 

*  Oliver  Cromwell  (after  Carlyle's  description)  in  Raumers  Tas- 
chenbuch. 


OLIVER  CROMWELL.  659 

that  his  private  and  domestic  life  was  exemplary.  Piety,  dis- 
cipline, and  purity  in  family  life  never  celebrated  a  more 
beautiful  triumph  than  in  his  family. 

Though  not  unversed  in  learning,  Cromwell  was  designed 
for  a  farmer.  At  the  time  when  the  conflict  between  the 
Crown  and  the  Parliament  began,  he  was  still  a  quiet,  mono- 
syllabic countryman,  simply  and  honestly  pursuing  his  rural 
occupations.  He  formed  a  respectable  middle-class  marriage, 
founded  a  domestic  hearth,  and  all  his  ways  and  doings 
were  those  of  a  contented  English  farmer.  Decided,  charac- 
teristic religious  tendencies  began,  however,  to  show  them- 
selves. He  diligently  attended  the  prayer-meetings  of  his 
fellow-professors,  devoted  his  savings  to  the  Puritan  travel- 
ling preachers,  zealously  took  part  in  their  missions,  and 
occasionally  undertook  a  proselytizing  journey  himself.  No 
less  significant  was  his  connection  with  the  eminent  patriots 
of  those  times.  John  Hampden  was  his  cousin,  and  he  may 
have  received  his  first  political  interests  from  him. 

He  first  appeared  as  a  politician  in  the  memorable  Parlia- 
ment of  1628.  His  maiden  speech  consisted  of  but  a  few 
words,  but  they  were  on  a  subject  which  was,  with  him,  a 
matter  of  conscience.  He  spoke  of  Popish  intrigues  which 
a  preacher  in  his  neighbourhood  had  been  carrying  on,  and 
for  which  he  had  been  rewarded  by  his  bishop  with  a  bene- 
fice. Such  occurrences  were  then  frequent.  "  If  these,"  said 
Cromwell,  "  are  the  means  of  rising  in  the  Church,  what  can 
we  expect  ?  "  Then  came  the  eleven  years  of  absolutism. 
Cromwell  was  now  simply  the  farmer  again,  and  a  patriarch 
in  his  little  congregation.  He  occupied  himself  with  prayer- 
meetings  and  preaching  journeys,  went  about  among  the 
"  quiet  in  the  land,"  who  might  be  relied  on  in  case  of  need, 
and  he  became  one  of  the  most  influential  persons  in  his 
community. 

In  the  Parliament  of  1640,  he  was  in  his  place  again. 
Once  he  spoke  for  the  ill-used  secretary  of  the  fanatical 
Prynne,  at  another  time  for  the  rights  of  poor  peasants  and 
for  the  Scotch.  He  was  an  offence  to  the  Cavaliers,  with 
his  large  frame,  harsh  voice,  plain  coat,  and  fervid  eloquence. 
When  Hampden  was  asked  "who  that  sloven  was,"  he  said, 
"  That  sloven  whom  you  see  before  you  hath  no  ornament 
in  his  speech  ;  that  sloven,  I  say,  if  we  should  ever  come  to 
a  breach  with  the  King  (which  God  forbid),  in  such  a  case, 
I  say,  that  sloven  will  be  the  greatest  man  in  England." 


66o  THE  REVOLUTION   IN  ENGLAND. 

Then  came  the  breach  ;  and  among  the  first  who  made 
sacrifices  for  the  Parliamentary  cause,  was  Cromwell. 

Now  forty-three  years  of  age,  and  the  father  of  six  children, 
he  contributed  first  three  and  then  five  hundred  pounds  of  his 
property.  With  his  eldest  son,  a  hopeful  youth,  he  joined  the 
Parliamentary  volunteers,  thus  staking  his  family,  his  happi- 
ness, and  his  property.  He  kept  up  communication  with 
Cambridge,  and  contrived  that  two  companies  of  volunteers 
should  be  established  there,  and  the  treasures  of  the  Univer- 
sity saved  for  Parliament.  No  one  could  then  say  whether 
the  path  in  which  he  was  boldly  leading  the  way  might  not 
lead  to  the  scaffold,  and  he  was  like  a  voluntary  victim 
breaking  down  the  bridge  behind  him.  Unlike  the  Presby- 
terians, then  the  great  majority  in  the  nation  and  in  Parlia- 
ment, who  thought  it  possible  to  fight  against  the  King  in 
the  King's  name,  Cromwell  took  up  the  war  from  the  first 
in  terrrible  earnestness.  "  He  who  draws  the  sword 
against  the  King,"  he  used  to  say,  "  must  throw  the  sheath 
into  the  fire ;  "  and  he  told  his  company  that  his  commission 
was  indeed  to  fight  for  King  and  Parliament,  but  he  hated 
ambiguity;  let  each  man  ask  himself  if  he,  like  himself, 
could  make  up  his  mind,  in  case  he  came  upon  the  King 
in  a  fray,  to  shoot  him  down  like  any  other  man ;  let  not 
him  who  could  not  do  so  serve  under  him. 

When  the  first  victories  of  the  Royalists  took  place,  he 
told  Hampden  that  it  did  not  surprise  him  ;  they  could  not 
hope  with  hirelings,  serving  men,  and  day  labourers,  to 
make  head  against  noblemen  with  honour,  courage,  and 
resolution  in  their  hearts.  They  must  get  men  of  spirit,  who 
would  be  as  ready  to  go  into  the  fire  as  the  nobles,  or  they 
would  always  be  beaten ;  and  he  acted  in  accordance  with 
his  advice.  He  had  a  wonderful  talent  for  military  organi- 
zation ;  though  not  brought  up  to  it,  he  had  the  true  instinct. 

Instead  of  the  mob  of  discharged  soldiers  and  deserters 
of  which  the  Parliamentary  army  was  composed,  he  tried 
to  attract  the  best  of  the  middle  classes  into  it,  and  to  create 
a  genuine  citizen  army.  This  ideal  army  was  to  be  a  political 
body,  filled  with  the  same  spirit,  and  modelled  after  the 
fashion  of  the  company  he  had  formed  of  his  countrymen. 
He  therefore  created  a  few  squadrons  of  Puritans,  soon 
amounting  to  fourteen,  which  should  serve  as  a  pattern 
for  the  new  army. 

In  these,  as  it  was  said,  half  in  jest,  half  in  earnest,  his 


OLIVER  CROMWELL.  66 1 

"  saints"  were  represented  ;  the  quiet  companions  of  his 
prayer-meetings,  the  singular  fanatics  of  the  conventicles, 
square  shouldered  citizens  and  peasants,  with  gloomy  looks 
and  coarse  attire.  It  was  like  a  fraternity  of  psalm-singers 
and  devotees  in  arms.  Cursing,  swearing,  feasting,  was 
not  found  here  as  in  other  camps  ;  prayer  was  offered  and 
services  were  held ;  laymen  appeared  as  preachers,  just 
as  the  illumination  came  to  them,  as  was  customary  in 
their  peaceful  services  at  home.  The  Puritan  congregation 
was  transferred  to  the  camp,  with  all  their  singularities,  but 
also  with  their  religious  enthusiasm,  their  discipline,  fear 
of  God,  and  devotion  to  their  cause.  It  was  totally  dif- 
ferent in  the  other  army,  in  which  the  lawless  behaviour  of 
the  troops,  and  the  discontent  of  their  distinguished  leaders 
spoiled  everything. 

It  was  of  stuff  like  this  that  the  squadrons  were  composed 
who  first  opposed  the  onslaught  of  the  dreaded  Cavaliers, 
and  were  soon  to  drive  them  out  of  the  field. 

At  Marston  Moor,  Cromwell  and  his  Puritan  horsemen 
first  gained  a  decisive  victory.  The  hitherto  unvanquished 
Cavaliers  of  Prince  Rupert  had,  as  Cromwell  said,  been  cut 
down  like  stubble  by  their  swords  ;  he  had  projected  a 
similar  blow  for  the  main  part  of  the  royal  army  after  the 
victory  of  Newbury,  but  he  had  met  with  unlooked-for  oppo- 
sition, not  of  a  personal  character,  but  based  on  a  difference 
of  principle.  His  general,  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  was  a 
skilful  soldier,  but  on  the  subject  of  the  aims  and  merits  of 
the  war,  his  opinions  were  those  of  all  the  Parliamentary 
leaders,  especially  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who,  belonging  to  the 
highest  nobility,  and  having  only  torn  himself  away  from  his 
equals  after  severe  mental  struggles,  had  no  idea  of  anni- 
hilating the  King,  or  even  of  introducing  a  new  consti- 
tution. 

For  this  party  the  war  was  only  a  means — a  heroic  means, 
indeed — of  compelling  the  King  to  constitutionalism,  to 
which  he  would  not  be  brought  by  friendly  measures.  A 
complete  victory,  therefore,  over  him,  which  would  at  the 
same  time  annihilate  the  monarchy,  was  considered  by 
them  to  be  a  misuse  of  their  arms,  and  a  great  evil. 

At  Newbury  this  had  come  plainly  to  light.  Cromv/ell 
asked  leave  to  attack  the  royal  army  in  the  rear  with  his 
cavalry  brigade,  proposing  that  the  Earl,  if  he  preferred  it, 
should  reiuain  with  the  rest  of  the  troops  in  inaction ;  but 


662  THE   REVOLUTION   IN  ENGLAND. 

the  Earl  absolutely  refused,  giving  no  other  reasons  than 
that  if  beaten  there  would  be  an  end  of  their  demands, 
and  that  they  would  be  at  once  executed  as  rebels  and 
traitors. 

Even  if  this  answer  expressed  the  whole  truth,  there  was 
an  idea  of  reconciliation  and  return  at  the  bottom  of  it 
which  Cromwell  had  long  ago  given  up.  Cromwell  was 
resolved  to  put  an  end  to  these  half  measures.  While 
amongst  his  enemies,  the  remote  possibility  of  an  indict- 
ment against  him  as  a  radical  incendiary  was  under  con- 
sideration ;  he  was  acting  with  so  much  skill,  that  his 
adversaries  first  learnt  what  his  intentions  were  from  the 
result. 

On  December  Qth,  1644,  the  situation  was  discussed  in 
Parliament.  Cromwell  rose,  to  give  expression  to  the 
general  discontent.  The  war  had  now  been  going  on  for 
two  years ;  they  had  suffered  many  defeats,  and  gained  but 
few  victories ;  enormous  sacrifices  had  been  demanded  in 
money,  men,  and  property,  yet  as  good  as  nothing  was 
attained,  for  what  was  gained  one  day  was  lost  the  next ;  in 
winter  they  began  to  think  how  much  blood  had  been  shed 
in  vain,  how  much  money  spent,  and  how  much  land 
devastated.  The  suffering  people  ascribed  the  blame  to 
Parliament ;  and  if  it  did  not  find  a  remedy  all  confidence 
in  it  would  be  lost.  The  people  thought  the  great  gentle- 
men in  Parliament  had  no  interest  in  bringing  the  war  to  a 
close;  for  so  long  as  it  lasted  they  were  in  power,  and  held 
important  posts,  but  when  it  was  over  their  glory  would  be 
at  an  end. 

This  talk,  with  which  he  did  not  agree,  must  be  met 
The  war  must  be  carried  on  in  a  different  manner  ;  the  army 
must  be  put  on  a  fresh  footing ;  and,  to  render  this  possible, 
an  act  of  self-denial  was  necessary  for  all  those  who  were 
taking  the  lead,  and,  as  true  patriots,  this  would  not  appear 
to  them  as  too  great  a  sacrifice. 

Before  this,  one  of  the  "  Saints,"  Henry  Vane,  had  in- 
formed the  House  that  all  the  preachers  at  the  late  festival 
had,  by  a  wonderful  concurrence,  spoken  from  their  pulpits 
against  the  members  of  Parliament  remaining  in  their  lucra- 
tive offices.  This  was  the  finger  of  God ;  this  was  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  Parliament  should  give  an 
example  of  self  renunciation ;  besides,  by  the  removal  of 
so  many  members,  the  numbers  in  the  House  were  im- 


THE   SELF-DENYING   ORDINANCE.  663 

paired.  Before  the  war  he  had  himself  held  a  lucrative 
office  in  the  Treasury ;  but  he  voluntarily  resigned  it,  and 
he  wished  that  others  would  do  the  same. 

These  were,  the  preliminaries  to  the  Self-denying  Ordi- 
nance, which  was  passed  after  a  vehement  contest.  It 
excluded  all  the  members  of  both  Houses  from  all  civil  and 
military  offices.  Before  it  was  passed,  Cromwell  had  attained 
his  object.  The  Presbyterian  generals,  Essex,  Warwick, 
Manchester,  Denbigh,  Waller,  and  others,  had  resigned. 
A  stratagem  was  required  to  except  Cromwell,  who  was 
both  an  officer  and  member  of  the  Commons.  During  the 
discussions,  Fairfax  had  him  sent  for  to  the  army,  and  before 
long  no  one  said  any  more  on  the  subject 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

THE  CATASTROPHE  OF  CHARLES  AND  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT. 

Defeat  of  Charles  at  Naseby,  June,  1645. — He  takes  refuge  with  the 
Scots,  who  sell  him  to  the  Presbyterians. — Mutiny  ot  the  Army 
against  Parliament. — Abduction  of  the  King. —  March  to  London. 
— First  Purge  of  Parliament,  August,  1647. — The  King's  Flight  to 
the  Isle  of  Wight. — His  Trial  and  Execution,  January  3Oth,  1649. 

DEFEAT  AT  NASEBY. — THE  KING'S  REFUGE  WITH  THE 
SCOTCH. — SOLD  TO  THE  PRESBYTERIANS. — MUTINY  OF 
THE  ARMY  AGAINST  PARLIAMENT. — ABDUCTION  OF  THE 
KING,  AND  ENTRY  INTO  LONDON. 

FROM  this  time  the  war  and  the  military  system  of  Par- 
liament bear  a  totally  different  aspect.  What  had 
been  begun  by  Cromwell  on  a  small  scale  was  carried  on 
on  a  larger  one.  The  whole  army  was  inspired  by  the 
spirit  of  the  Saints  ;  the  officers  were  intrusted  with  the 
duties  of  priests  ;  preaching  and  psalm-singing  were  intro- 
duced into  the  camp,  the  wild  doings  of  which  a  great  part 
of  the  Parliamentary  army  had  been  guilty,  in  common 
with  the  Royalists,  ceased ;  and,  since  Cromwell  and 
Fairfax  had  held  the  command,  it  had  been  free  from  its 
previous  lukewarmness. 

With  this  strictly-disciplined  army,  in  which  a  trust  in 
God  prevailed  bordering  on  Mohammedan  fatalism,  Crom- 
well, to  whom  Fairfax  was  in  fact  subordinate,  defeated  the 
Royalists  at  Naseby,  on  June  i4th,  1645.  After  this  day 
good  fortune  entirely  forsook  the  King ;  one  city  and 
county  was  lost  after  another.  Cromwell  not  only  knew 
how  to  conquer,  but  to  take  advantage  of  his  victories.  He 
was  always  at  the  heels  of  the  Royalists,  and  did  not  rest 
till  the  party  was  annihilated. 

One  prospect  still    opened  before  the   unhappy   King. 


THE  KING   SOLD  BY  THE    SCOTCH.  665 

The  Scotch  had  become  uneasy  at  the  victories  of  the 
Independents.  The  fanatical  Presbyterians  feared  the 
supremacy  of  the  radical  enthusiasts,  and  would  have 
nothing  to  do  either  with  their  creed  or  their  church  consti- 
tution. The  King  was  not  in  a  position  to  retract  any  of 
his  concessions  to  them  ;  from  the  Independents,  on  the 
contrary,  they  had  nothing  to  hope.  Out  of  these  elements 
the  French  ambassador  combined  a  tempting  picture, 
which*  the  King  was  the  less  able  to  withstand,  as  since 
the  spring  of  1646,  at  Oxford,  he  had  been  daily  expecting 
a  blow  from  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Thus  arose  his  reso- 
lution to  take  refuge  with  the  remnant  of  his  faithful  followers 
in  the  Scotch  camp. 

On  May  5th  he  appeared  before  Newark,  followed  by  a 
Parliamentary  decree,  threatening  any  one  with  death  who 
should  harbour  the  fugitive  King. 

Agreeably  surprised  by  this  unexpected  proof  of  royal 
confidence,  the  Scotch  persuaded  the  King  to  give  up  his 
last  weapons  ;  they  made  him  order  all  the  royal  garrisons 
which  had  hitherto  held  out  against  Fairfax  and  Cromwell 
to  surrender  to  Parliament.  This  done,  they  negotiated 
with  Parliament  about  a  ransom  for  their  royal  captive. 
The  cunning  and  worldly  wisdom  of  the  Scotch  is  prover- 
bial ;  this  act  was  even  more  than  Scotch. 

The  war  which  they  had  undertaken,  in  order  to  make 
England  Presbyterian,  and  to  place  the  covenant  on  firm 
ground,  had,  according  to  their  reckoning,  cost  two  millions, 
and  the  possession  of  the  King  furnished  them  with  a 
means  of  indemnifying  themselves.  After  long  chaffering, 
they  agreed  to  liberate  the  King  for  ^£400,000,  half  to  be 
paid  immediately,  the  rest  in  two  instalments. 

At  first,  even  the  Scotch  Parliament  felt  the  business  to 
be  so  disgraceful  that  a  resolution  was  passed  that  the  King 
should  be  protected  and  his  liberation  insisted  on ;  but  it 
was  informed  by  the  General  Assembly  that  as  the  King 
had  opposed  the  Covenant,  his  fate  no  longer  concerned 
the  "  Saints,"  and  so  the  transaction  was  completed. 

Upon  his  journey  from  Scotch  to  English  imprisonment, 
the  King  once  more  experienced  the  royalist  sympathies  of 
the  masses.  Sympathetic  tears  and  exclamations  accom- 
panied him  to  Holdenby,  where  rough  treatment  awaited 
him,  which  only  gave  place  to  better,  when  English  parties 
began  to  disagree  about  his  fate 


666  THE   REVOLUTION  IN   ENGLAND. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  exactly  what  the  Presbyterians  in- 
tended to  do  with  the  King  when  he  was  in  their  power. 
The  commissioners  who  had  taken  possession  of  him  at 
Newark  reverently  kissed  his  hand  ;  but  at  Holdenby  he 
was  treated  like  an  arrested  criminal.  His  suite  was  dis- 
missed, all  intercourse  with  the  outer  world  was  cut  off;  he 
was  even  deprived  of  his  chaplains  because  they  had  not 
signed  the  covenant.  One  thing  alone  was  certain  amidst 
all  these  contradictions,  that  the  Presbyterians  who  had  the 
majority,  both  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  did  not  desire  a 
republic  or  abolition  of  monarchy,  and  therefore  regarded 
the  spirit  of  the  Independent  army  as  its  worst  foe. 

They  intended,  therefore,  before  any  further  steps  should 
be  taken,  in  some  way  or  other  to  get  rid  of  this  army. 

In  Parliament  it  was  now  said,  "  The  war  is  over ;  there  is 
no  longer  a  hostile  army ;  the  treasury  is  exhausted ;  why 
keep  a  large  army  in  the  field  for  nothing,  when  there  are 
no  means  to  support  it  ?  "  It  was  proposed  to  send  some  of 
the  troops  to  Ireland,  to  dismiss  others,  and  to  keep  only 
a  small  reserve  in  case  of  need.  Once  rid  of  the  hosts  of 
the  Saints,  the  rest  would  arrange  itself,  and  Parliament 
could  discuss  at  ease  what  to  do  with  the  King  and  country. 

But  they  were  mistaken  in  thinking  that  they  could  so 
easily  get  rid  of  those  who  had  won  the  victory,  and  had  in 
the  long  struggle  lost  reverence,  not  for  the  King  only. 

Scarcely  had  the  news  of  the  plans  of  the  majority  reached 
the  camp,  through  the  Independents  in  Parliament,  than  the 
army  began  to  move.  Besides  their  large  arrears  of  pay, 
the  troops  demanded  not  to  be  treated  as  Janissaries  or  hire 
lings,  to  be  disposed  of  at  pleasure  without  being  consulted. 
The  demands  of  the  Saints  were  put  together  in  a  definite 
form  in  a  petition  to  Fairfax,  and  as  Parliament  only  met 
it  with  threats,  open  mutiny  broke  out.  The  camp  became 
an  opposition  Parliament ;  the  officers  met  as  the  Upper, 
the  men  as  the  Lower  House,  and  passed  independent 
resolutions  in  defence  of  their  rights  against  the  interference 
of  the  London  Parliament.  And  when  Parliament  com- 
manded that  the  troops  who  would  not  go  to  Ireland  should 
be  forthwith  dismissed,  the  army  not  only  refused  obedience, 
but  despatched  a  division  of  five  hundred  horse  to  Hol- 
denby, seized  the  King  in  presence  of  the  astonished 
parliamentary  commissioner,  and  soon  after  Cromwell  re- 
moved the  whole  army  to  St.  Alban's. 


MUTINY  OF  THE  ARMY  AGAINST  PARLIAMENT.   667 

With  his  hand  on  his  sword,  Cromwell  demanded  the 
dismissal  and  arrest  of  eleven  members  of  Parliament  who 
had  been  guilty  of  high  treason — Hollis,  Waller,  and  other 
leaders  of  the  Presbyterian  party  were  among  them.  Parlia- 
ment demurred  ;  but  the  eleven  thought  it  best  to  with- 
draw, and  the  army  was  so  far  pacified  as  to  remain  at 
St.  Alban's. 

It  was,  indeed,  only  a  short  delay  of  the  catastrophe. 
Cromwell  wished  to  avoid  open  violence,  and  proposed  a 
circuitous  path  which,  while  making  less  commotion,  would 
as  surely  lead  to  the  goal. 

During  the  panic  of  the  last  few  days,  when  the  news  of 
the  King's  abduction  had  been  quickly  followed  by  that  of 
the  approach  of  the  enraged  Saints,  and  the  Londoners 
expected  to  be  given  up  to  the  fury  of  the  soldiery,  Parlia- 
ment had  one  support — the  city  militia,  who,  from  the 
first,  had  been  true  to  the  Presbyterians.  It  was  to  be 
deprived  of  this  last  weapon  before  the  army  set  its  foot 
upon  its  neck. 

The  army  demanded  that  a  change  should  be  made  with 
the  militia,  and  especially  that  the  Presbyterian  commander 
should  be  dismissed.  Parliament  conceded  this  unheard- 
of  demand;  but  the  masses  rose  up,  the  apprentices  and 
watermen  of  1642  opposed  these  measures,  and  insisted 
that  the  resolution  should  be  rescinded.  It  was  now  plain 
to  the  army,  who  were  only  waiting  for  such  a  pretext,  that 
Parliament  was  not  its  own  master,  and  that  their  advance 
must  be  eagerly  desired ;  and  when  the  speakers  of  both 
Houses,  accompanied  by  eight  peers  and  sixty  of  the  Com- 
mons came  and  begged  for  help,  there  was  no  longer  any 
delay. 

Twenty  thousand  gloomy-looking  Independents  marched 
into  the  city  and  came  to  the  rescue  of  Parliament  on  the 
6th  of  August,  1647.  There  was  no  want  of  discipline  in 
then:  conduct,  but  there  was  an  end  to  the  liberty  of  Parlia- 
ment. All  its  recent  acts  were  declared  null  and  void  ;  the 
militia  were  given  over  to  the  Independents,  and  some 
opponents  who  were  specially  compromised  were  arrested 
and  imprisoned.  This  was  the  first  mutilation  of  this  re- 
markable assembly.  Professedly  it  was  but  a  blow  struck 
against  the  previous  majority,  but  in  reality  parliamentaryism 
itself  had  received  a  fatal  stroke.  What  was  left  of  it 
existed  only  by  favour  of  the  army  and  its  leaders. 


668  THE   REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

The  King  also  felt  the  effects  of  this  event.  Up  to  this 
time  his  imprisonment  in  camp  had  been  less  severe  and 
more  honourable  than  with  the  Presbyterians.  Up  to  within 
a  short  time  before  his  abduction  he  had  been  negotiating 
with  them,  and  terms  appeared  likely  to  be  made.  He  had 
been  so  well  treated  in  the  Independent  camp  that  he 
thought  himself  courted  by  both  parties,  derived  courage 
from  the  idea  that  they  could  not  settle  matters  without  him, 
and  imagined  that  he  should  again  be  able  to  employ  one 
against  the  other.  He  was  shrewd  enough  to  perceive  that 
Cromwell  belonged  to  the  future,  and  tried  to  make  advances 
to  him  ;  offered  him  the  command  of  the  army,  to  make 
him  a  peer,  a  duke,  &c.  What  Cromwell  thought  of  all 
chis  we  do  not  know.  He  probably  did  what  he  had  great 
dexterity  in  doing — escaped  these  snares  under  the  plea  of 
rustic  awkwardness,  for  he  knew  the  King's  cunning.  One 
thing  is  certain,  that  continued  intimacy  with  the  King 
would  have  deprived  him  of  his  influence  with  the  army, 
and  that  an  intercepted  despatch  from  the  King  to  the 
Queen  would  have  undeceived  a  man  less  shrewd  than  he 
was.  In  this  the  King  said  that  it  was  his  wish  to  unite  not 
with  the  English  army,  but  with  the  Scotch,  the  mortal 
enemies  of  the  Independents.  He  should  know  how  to 
rise  against  these  fellows  when  the  right  time  came.  Instead 
of  the  garter — which  he  had  promised  to  Cromwell, — there 
would  be  a  hempen  cord  for  them. 

FLIGHT  OF  THE  KING  TO  THE  ISLE  OF  WIGHT. — THE  SECOND 
CIVIL  WAR  ()ULY — SEPTEMBER,  1648). — THE  SECOND 
PURGE  OF  PARLIAMENT,  DECEMBER,  1648. — TRIAL  AND 
EXECUTION  OF  THE  KING,  JOTH  OF  JANUARY,  1649. 

After  Cromwell  withdrew  from  the  King,  the  Indepen- 
dent preachers  raised  an  alarm  against  him ;  a  threatening 
agitation  arose,  which  increased  daily.  Forsaken  by  all, 
and  in  fear  for  his  personal  safety,  during  the  night  of 
the  nth  of  November  the  King  escaped  to  the  Isle  of 
Wight. 

This  was  highly  imprudent.  He  did  not  thereby  escape 
from  his  gaolers ;  for  the  governor  of  the  island  was  Hamp- 
den's  son-in-law,  and  Cromwell's  most  trusted  ally,  and  he 
cut  himself  off  from  communication  with  his  friends,  thus 
proving  anew  that  there  was  no  reliance  to  be  placed  on 


FLIGHT  OF   THE   KING.  669 

his  promises,  that  negotiation  with  him  was  vain.  He 
might  be  recaptured  at  any  moment,  and  would  then  be  in 
the  hands  of  doubly  embittered  enemies. 

It  had  now  become  impossible  for  Charles  to  remain 
King  of  England.  It  would  be  to  frustrate  the  whole  sig- 
nificance and  aim  of  the  civil  war  to  replace  him  upon  the 
throne.  But  the  great  question  was  what  should  replace 
him,  and  the  answer  had  not  become  any  clearer. 

There  had,  indeed,  been  a  project  for  establishing  a  sort 
of  interregnum — for  persuading  the  King  to  abdicate,  and 
of  setting  up  a  parliamentary  regency  in  the  name  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales.  This  plan  also  put  the  restoration  of 
Charles  out  of  the  question,  but  it  had  long  fallen  into  the 
background  with  the  Independents  as  not  going  far  enough. 
For  them  there  no  longer  was  a  King. 

On  the  3rd  of  January,  the  motion  was  carried  that  no 
further  message  from  the  King  need  be  received,  and  that  he 
no  longer  had  any  voice  in  the  reorganization  of  the  State. 
On  this  occasion  Cromwell  said  that  while  the  King  was 
solemnly  talking  to  them  of  peace,  he  was  negotiating  with 
the  Scots  in  order  to  involve  them  in  a  fresh  war. 

It  was  not  long  before  this  fresh  war  really  broke  out. 
Fourteen  thousand  Scots  attacked  the  country  to  fight  for 
the  King.  The  native  Royalists  held  up  their  heads ;  dis- 
turbances broke  out  in  the  navy,  and  there  were  inflam- 
mable materials  enough  in  the  country  to  occasion  a  general 
conflagration.  Even  against  the  resolution  in  Parliament 
declaring  the  Scots  to  be  enemies,  there  were  ninety 
courageous  votes. 

In  London  all  was  quiet,  but  scarcely  had  the  Indepen- 
dents advanced  to  meet  the  Royalists,  when  Parliament 
threw  off  the  terrorism  which  had  held  it  in  check.  The 
Presbyterians  assumed  the  leadership  again,  recalled  the 
eleven  dismissed  members,  reversed  the  resolution  of  the 
3rd  of  January,  and  renewed  negotiations  with  the  King  in 
the  Isle  of  Wight.  With  great  difficulty,  after  long  negotia- 
tions, a  project  of  a  treaty  was  formed,  but  by  the  time  it 
was  submitted  to  Parliament  the  situation  of  parties  without 
was  entirely  changed. 

All  the  revolts  had  in  turn  been  quelled,  and  with 
8,000  men  Cromwell  had  attacked  and  cut  in  pieces  the 
30,000  Scots  and  Royalists. 

The  result  was  a  peace,  which  put  an  end  to  the  alliance 


670  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

for  the  Kins,  and  confirmed  anew  the  union  of  the  two 
kingdoms,  26th  of  September,  1648.  The  camp  parlia- 
ment of  the  Independents  now  resolved  on  their  own 
account  that  the  King  should  make  amends  for  the  blood 
that  had  been  spilt,  and  that  the  Parliament  had  forfeited 
its  right  to  existence  by  its  treaty  with  Charles.  But  in 
spite  of  this,  Parliament  voted  for  the  treaty  with  the  King 
by  a  hundred  and  twenty-nine  against  eighty-three,  so 
there  was  a  fresh  "  purge." 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  6th  of  December,  1648, 
Westminster  was  surrounded  by  two  regiments  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Pride,  formerly  a  drayman,  and  they 
carried  off  forty-one  Presbyterians.  One  hundred  and  sixty 
members  more  were  excluded,  and  in  the  Parliament  thus 
purged  there  were  now  but  from  fifty  to  sixty  fanatics  of  the 
Independent  sect. 

It  was  now  necessary  to  come  to  some  decision  about  the 
King.  Immediately  after  the  resolution  of  the  military 
Parliament,  he  had  been  brought  from  Newport  and  placed 
in  more  secure  imprisonment.  The  question  was  what  to 
do  with  him.  To  liberate  him,  especially  after  recent  events, 
appeared  to  the  Independents  impossible.  The  King  had 
made  himself  a  terror  to  them  by  everything  that  makes 
a  monarch  dangerous.  His  unfathomable  cunning,  his  oft- 
proved  treachery,  his  talent  for  recovering  himself  after  every 
defeat  and  setting  one  party  against  another ;  his  impur- 
turbable  obstinacy  on  all  questions  connected  with  the  royal 
authority,  and  the  episcopal  constitution ;  and  finally  the 
sympathies  of  the  most  powerful  classes  make  it  perfectly 
intelligible  that  the  party  which  had  won  all  the  victories 
of  the  civil  war,  and  could  but  look  for  fearful  retribution 
on  a  restoration  of  the  monarchy,  had  adopted  the  resolu- 
tion, "  Either  he  or  we  !  " 

The  fate  of  England  was  in  the  hands  of  an  army  not 
composed  of  hirelings  but  of  glowing  patriots.  They  looked 
upon  the  King  as  the  enemy  of  the  country  imprisoned 
with  his  weapon  in  his  hand,  and  they  asked  themselves, 
"  Which  shall  win  ?  " 

What  Cromwell  thought  of  this  question  we  learn  from  a 
letter  which  he  wrote  at  this  time  to  his  friend  Governor 
Hammond,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  under  date  of  the  25th  of 
November,  1 648,  in  which  he  says  among  other  things  : — 

"  You  say,  '  God  hath  appointed  authorities  among  the 


TRIAL  OF  THE  KING.  671 

nations,  to  whom  active  or  passive  obedience  is  to  be 
yielded.  This  resides  in  England  in  the  Parliament.  There- 
fore active  or  passive  resistance,'  &c. 

"  Authorities  and  powers  are  the  ordinances  of  God  ;  but 
I  do  not,  therefore,  think  the  authorities  may  do  anything, 
and  yet  such  obedience  be  due.  All  agree  that  there  are 
cases  in  which  it  is  lawful  to  resist.  The  query  is,  whether 
ours  be  such  a  case. 

"  To  this  I  shall  say  nothing,  but  only  desire  thee  to  see 
that  thou  findest  in  thy  own  heart  to  two  or  three  plain 
considerations.  First,  whether  Salus  Populi  be  a  sound 
position,  or  if  (secondly)  the  whole  fruit  of  the  war  is  not  like 
to  be  frustrated,  and  all  most  like  to  turn  to  what  it  was, 
and  worse  ?  and  this  contrary  to  engagements,  explicit  cove- 
nants, with  those  who  ventured  their  lives  upon  those 
covenants  and  engagements.  Thirdly,  whether  this  army 
be  not  a  lawful  power  called  by  God  to  oppose  and 
fight  against  the  King  upon  some  staled  grounds.  Let  us 
look  into  providences  ;  surely  they  mean  somewhat.  They 
hang  so  together,  have  been  so  constant,  so  clear,  unclouded. 
Malice,  swoln  malice  against  God's  people,  now  called 
"  Saints,"  to  root  out  their  name  ;  and  yet  they — '  these 
poor  Saints' — getting  arms,  and  therein  blessed  with  defence, 
and  more !  If  the  Lord  have  in  any  measure  persuaded  his 
people,  as  generally  he  hath,  of  the  lawfulness,  nay  of  the 
duty — this  persuasion  prevailing  upon  the  heart  is  faith,  and 
the  acting  thereupon  is  acting  in  faith ;  and  the  more  the 
difficulties  are  the  more  the  faith."* 

Cromwell  had,  as  we  know  without  this  testimony,  accus- 
tomed himself,  without  any  self-deception,  to  the  idea  that 
it  was  not  a  case  for  a  judicial  sentence,  but  of  measures  of 
defence,  and  for  the  public  good.  It  was  in  this  light  that 
it  was  looked  at  by  him  and  his  army,  and  he  laid  no  claim 
to  any  other  law.  This  dangerous  man  must  be  rendered 
harmless,  and  that  he  would  not  be  so  long  as  he  lived. 

It  was  not  a  trial  that  was  begun  during  the  last  few  days 
of  the  old  year  and  the  beginning  of  the  new,  but  a  court 
martial  held  by  the  army  on  a  traitor  imprisoned  sword  in  hand. 

The  attempt  to  carry  on  the  proceedings  in  a  constitu- 
tional manner  failed.  The  accusations  made  by  the  Rump 
Parliament,  January  ist,  1649 — high  treason,  by  overthrow- 
ing the  laws  of  the  land  and  instigation  of  civil  war — was 
*  Carlyle,  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches. 


672  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND. 

indignantly  rejected  by  the  Lords.  The  Speaker,  who  was 
to  have  been  one  of  the  judges,  declared  that  he  would 
rather  be  torn  in  pieces  than  take  part  in  so  reckless  a  pro- 
ceeding. 

There  was,  therefore,  nothing  left  for  the  Commons  but  to 
proclaim  a  new  revolutionary  law,  which  was  done  January 
4th.  It  declared  that  under  God,  the  people  are  the 
source  of  legitimate  power,  that  the  power  of  the  Commons 
in  Parliament  assembled  is  supreme,  that  the  people  are 
bound  to  obey  whatever  is  declared  to  be  law  by  them,  even 
without  the  consent  of  the  King  or  the  Peers. 

On  January  2oth,  Charles  Stuart,  as  he  was  now  called, 
appeared  before  the  tribunal,  under  the  accusation  of  being 
a  tyrant,  a  murderer,  a  traitor,  and  the  enemy  of  his  country. 
Since  he  had  been  brought  to  London,  he  had  vacillated 
between  fear  of  assassination  and  the  hope  of  being  set  free 
at  the  last  moment  through  the  disputes  of  parties  among 
themselves,  but  for  what  now  happened  he  was  not  pre- 
pared. He  had  thought  that  it  would  not  go  so  far  as  a 
legal  trial,  were  it  but  the  shadow  of  it,  before  all  the  world. 
But  he  soon  controlled  himself,  and  adopted  the  only  right 
course.  He  behaved  like  a  King  who  is  in  the  right,  who 
can  be  put  to  death,  but  not  humbled.  "  I  die  as  a  martyr," 
he  used  to  say,  and  to  the  last  he  behaved  like  a  witness  to 
monarchical  constitutional  law,  as  opposed  to  the  victorious 
revolution. 

He  did  not  defend  himself,  for  he  was  not  before  judges. 
Every  word  that  he  uttered  was  a  protest  against  the  pro- 
ceedings to  which  he  was  subjected.  He  interrupted  the 
secretary  who  read  the  words  that  the  legal  power  was  in- 
trusted to  him,  by  saying  that  he  was  King  by  hereditary 
right,  and  asked  him  what  right  had  he  before  whom  he 
was  brought,  to  try  him.  This  was  on  the  first  day  of  the 
trial.  On  the  second  day,  when  he  was  about  to  answer  in 
the  same  style,  he  was  not  allowed  to  speak,  and  nothing 
was  left  for  him  but  to  write  down  in  prison  what  he  wished 
to  say.  In  these  observations  he  distinctly  said  that  he 
could  easily  have  refuted  every  word  of  the  accusation, 
but  that  that  would  have  been  to  acknowledge  the  tribunal, 
and  to  deny  the  ancient  principle  of  constitutional  law, 
according  to  which  "  the  King  can  do  no  wrong." 

Sentence  of  death  was  passed  on  the  25th  of  January,  and 
the  execution  followed  on  the  joth. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE    COMMONWEALTH,    WITHOUT   KING   OR    HOUSE    OF 
LORDS. 

Cromwell's  Position  after  the  Death  of  Charles  I. — Parties,  Republic 
and  Monarchy. — Subjugation  of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  1649-51. — 
War  with  Holland.— The  Navigation  Act,  October,  1651,  and  the 
Peace  of  April,  1654.— The  Constitutional  Experiments. — Dis- 
missal of  the  Long  Parliament. — The  Constitution  pf  December, 
1653. — The  Parliament  of  1654-5  and  the  Military  Government. — 
The  Parliament  of  1656-7. — Proposal  of  a  Monarchy. — The 
Upper  House  of  January,  1658. — Cromwell's  Death,  September 
3rd,  1658.— Richard  Cromwell  and  the  end  of  the  Republic. 

CROMWELL'S  POSITION  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  CHARLES  I. 
— STATE  OF  PARTIES,  REPUBLIC  AND  MONARCHY. 

THE  whole  history  of  Cromwell's  reign  shows  how  little 
the  King's  death  was  adapted  to  free  the  new  Govern- 
ment from  embarrassment.  The  difficulties  which  it  was 
supposed  were  got  rid  of,  were  not  got  rid  of ;  and  the  King's 
death  advanced  the  cause  of  his  adherents  more  than  that 
of  the  Independents. 

It  is  not,  however,  a  parallel  case  with  the  murder  of 
Louis  XVI.  In  the  one  case,  the  King  wanted  to  annihilate 
the  ancient  constitutions  of  the  country,  in  the  other,  the 
King  had  voluntarily  resigned  his  formerly  absolute  power; 
in  the  one  case  a  man  was  put  to  death  who  deserved  pity 
rather  than  fear  or  hatred,  whilst  Charles  I.  was  a  foe  almost 
more  dangerous  from  his  virtues  than  his  faults.  Louis  was 
a  helpless  prisoner,  slaughtered  like  a  victim;  Charles  might 
be  considered  to  have  challenged  his  foes  to  fight  against  him. 
The  differences  of  the  times  must  also  be  taken  into  account. 
The  seventeenth  century  was  far  less  sensitive,  even  about 

x  x 


674  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

the  lives  of  princely  personages  than  the  philosophical  age 
of  humanity. 

But  murder  was  still  murder.  Even  Cromwell  did  not 
deceive  himself  as  to  the  fact  that  he  had  no  right  to  judge 
the  King.  It  was  an  exceptional  measure,  which  did  not 
annihilate  the  monarchy,  On  the  contrary,  the  murder  of 
1649  awoke  it  to  new  life.  England  was,  far  more  than 
the  France  of  1790,  a  monarchical  country.  Even  after  the 
removal  of  the  King,  a  great  deal  remained  which  made 
the  monarchy  indestructible.  Its  existence  for  centuries,  the 
growth  of  the  country  with  it,  its  many  pillars  in  the  Up- 
per House,  and  in  the  hierarchy,  and  among  the  land-owning 
nobility.  The  head  of  it  might  be  abolished,  and  tailors 
and  shoemakers  made  into  peers,  but  the  old  preponderance 
of  the  large  estates  was  not  thereby  got  rid  of.  The  State 
Church  might  be  deprived  of  its  temporal  and  ecclesiastical 
privileges,  yet  it  would  still  be  one  of  the  mightiest  factors 
in  the  country,  which  could  only  be  done  away  with  by  a 
massacre,  and  for  all  these  elements  the  King's  death  was 
a  day  of  excitement  and  encouragement.  The  great  majority 
of  the  English  nobles  now  formed  a  passive  opposition, 
which  would  not  lightly  endanger  themselves  by  violent 
measures,  but  bided  their  time,  and  gradually  left  Cromwell 
in  isolation.  It  was  the  same  with  the  English  State  Church, 
a  power  that  might  be  repressed,  but  not  crushed.  The 
masses  were  never  gained  over  to  oppose  her.  I  am,  there- 
fore, of  opinion  that  if  by  the  death  of  the  King,  Cromwell 
thought  to  give  a  fatal  blow  to  the  monarchy,  he  utterly 
failed  of  his  purpose ;  he  only  conferred  on  it  the  glory  of 
martyrdom,  which  caused  its  sins  and  mistakes  to  be  for- 
gotten, and  prepared  for  it  a  glorious  restoration  in  the  future. 
I  do  not  imagine  that  the  return  of  the  Stuarts  would  have 
been  greeted  with  such  feverish  enthusiasm  had  not  the 
nation  been  burdened  with  the  consciousness  that  there 
was  a  fearful  deed  between  them,  that  they  had  to  atone 
for  the  murder  of  a  King.  Just  so  I  think  that  had  it  not 
been  for  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  the  Bourbons  would 
never  have  been  restored  in  France. 

A  republican  constitution  was  introduced,  but  it  had  no 
foundation  in  the  condition  and  sentiments  of  the  people. 
Cromwell  had  to  rule  with  the  minority  of  the  nation,  as 
represented  by  the  fifty  thousand  Saints.  It  was  the  result 
of  this  false  position  that  he  projected  schemes  the  impos- 


CROMWELL'S  POSITION.  675 

sibility  of  which  he  best  knew  himself.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  he  gradually  withdrew  from  his  own  party  as  he  more 
and  more  plainly  saw  its  untenable  position. 

But  just  then  he  was  the  only  man  who  knew  how  to 
govern  England.  No  other  party  had  a  more  competent 
man,  and  no  opponent  had  a  party  which  could  be  com- 
pared to  his.  And  the  remarkable  thing  is  how  rapidly  he 
adapted  himself  to  his  high  position — how  firmly  the 
Huntingdonshire  farmer  maintained  himself  at  the  head 
of  three  kingdoms  amidst  perpetual  struggles  for  existence. 

Above  all,  he  restrained  the  excrescences  which  had 
appeared  in  this,  as  in  every  revolution.  Even  among  this 
calm  and  sober  people  there  were  fanatics,  and  they  were 
dangerous  to  Cromwell  because  they  had  in  some  measure 
infected  the  army.  The  stragglers  in  every  great  revolution 
— people  who  preached  the  abolition  of  marriage,  property, 
and  all  social  distinctions — appeared  here  also,  but  with 
this  difference,  that  the  crimes  which  generally  go  hand-in- 
hand  with  this  nonsense  did  not  prevail.  The  teaching  of 
the  Levellers*  was  nothing  more  than  programme  and 
attempt  when  Cromwell  interfered.  He  had  himself  risen 
out  of  the  revolution,  held  his  authority  as  a  fief  from  it, 
and  yet  he  restrained  it.  This  was  the  first  test  of  his 
genius  as  a  ruler,  and  in  his  situation  it  was  more  difficult 
than  in  the  France  of  1793. 

This  symptom  of  beginning  dissolution  of  his  own  party 
demanded  all  the  more  speedy  interference,  as  the  Royalist 
party  was  essentially  strengthened  since  the  death  of  Charles. 
Since  the  3oth  of  January,  1649,  it  had  withdrawn  in  deep 
embitterment,  but  there  were  many  indications  that  it  was 
quietly  gathering  up  its  strength,  and  that  when  a  favour- 
able opportunity  occurred,  it  would  not  shun  an  open 
breach  with  Cromwell.  It  had  been  joined  more  and  more 
by  the  Presbyterian  party.  It  was  the  Presbyterians  who 
had  begun  the  contest  with  absolute  monarchy,  and  carried 
it  on  for  years ;  but  they  had  no  more  idea  of  putting  an 
end  to  monarchy  itself  than  of  putting  the  King  to  death, 
and  openly  expressed  their  abhorrence  of  the  act.  Crom- 
well had  never  had  much  support  in  the  provinces ;  not  a 
single  county  could  be  named  in  which  the  Independents 
ruled  supreme.  That  independent  spirit  which  had  often 

*   See  Ranke,  iii.  328. 


676  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

made  itself  heard  against  the  King,  without  intending  to 
impugn  the  monarchy  itself,  was  sure  now  to  be  directed 
against  Cromwell,  and  the  more  so  as  the  new  form  of 
government  was  opposed  to  all  the  traditions  of  the  country. 

Thus  Cromwell  could  only  rely  for  support  upon  the 
army  of  50,000  men,  and  this  was  a  two-edged  weapon. 
With  all  its  military  discipline,  this  army  was  but  an 
armed  body  of  men  who  had  their  own  views  upon 
questions  of  Church  and  State,  had  maintained  them  in 
many  a  fearful  trial,  and  probably  intended  to  stand  up  for 
them  in  the  future  with  equal  fanaticism.  Cromwell  might 
dictate  laws  to  Europe,  but  still  he  was  bound  to  his 
50,000  Saints ;  and  he  knew  perfectly  well  that  they 
were  no  cheaply-bought  soldiery,  who  would  have  been  just 
as  ready  to  have  obeyed  their  successful  leader  as  king,  but 
a  republican  party  under  arms,  full  of  the  wildest  fanaticism. 
A  time  came  when  it  was  expected  abroad,  by  the  Stuarts, 
and  even  by  the  Royalists,  that  Cromwell  would  have 
accepted  the  Crown  offered  him  by  Parliament,  but  the 
50,000  Saints  would  not  suffer  it.  They  stood  in  the  fore- 
ground, confronted  him  with  the  spectre  of  the  beheaded 
King,  and  the  old  democratic  banner — he  declined  the  crown. 
More  prudent  than  many  others  in  a  similar  situation,  he 
calculated  his  means,  and  took  care  not  to  go  beyond 
them. 

He  wished  to  establish  a  permanent  civil  administration, 
but  his  only  support  was  a  military  force  which  did  not 
comport  with  it ;  he  wished,  in  fact,  to  form  an  English 
constitution  which  should  reconcile  the  old  aristocratic 
structure  with  the  new  democratic  doctrines;  but  all  his 
attempts  were  irustrated  by  his  antecedents.  He  was  him- 
self the  man  to  shake  off  the  narrow  limits  of  his  party, 
but  they  could  not  be  persuaded  to  any  compromise.  The 
elements  for  a  republic  were  wanting  in  the  nation,  and  he 
was  not  the  man  for  the  monarchy. 

But  amidst  these  vast  difficulties  he  went  his  way  with 
astonishing  firmness,  as  if  no  care  or  cloud  hung  over  him  ; 
and  we  must  continually  recur  to  his  modest  origin  to  esti- 
mate rightly  his  extraordinary  talents.  To  add  to  the 
internal  difficulties  of  his  position,  Ireland  was  unsubdued, 
Scotland  in  open  rebellion.  The  three  kingdoms,  therefore, 
were  thoroughly  at  variance.  In  Scotland,  the  King's  death 
had  been  the  signal  for  the  revolt  of  the  Royalist  party,  and 


SUBJUGATION  OF  IRELAND  AND  SCOTLAND.    677 

Cromwell  had  to  wage  two  fearful  wars  before  he  could 
think  of  establishing  a  civil  administration.  He  succeeded 
in  doing  what  the  Stuarts  had  never  done  ;  he  subjugated 
all  three  kingdoms,  and  ruled  them  as  no  King  had  done 
before  him. 

SUBJUGATION  OF  IRELAND  AND  SCOTLAND. — WAR  WITH 
HOLLAND. 

During  the  last  four  years,  Ireland  had  been  the  scene  of 
various  widely-differing  projects.  In  1645,  a  Papal  nuncio, 
Rinuccini,  had  arrived,  who  laboured  with  much  success  to 
promote  a  Catholic  restoration  and  separation  from  Eng- 
land ;  but  after  the  death  of  the  King,  a  Presbyterian,  Lord- 
Lieutenant  Ormond,  had  succeeded  in  bringing  about  a 
Royalist  coalition  between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  Eng- 
lish and  Irish,  to  revenge  themselves  on  the  Independents 
for  the  death  of  Charles  I.  This  coalition  ruled  the  whole 
island,  and  was  in  possession  of  all  the  fortresses. 

In  1649,  Cromwell  set  out  to  oppose  them  with  a  select 
troop  of  his  veterans — as  usual,  after  spiritual  preparation 
for  the  enterprise.  In  this  case,  as  against  the  Scots,  his 
virtuosoship  consisted  in  inflaming  the  religious  enthusiasm 
of  his  Saints,  and  their  hatred  of  royal  tyranny  to  such  a 
degree,  that  their  feelings  may  be  compared  to  the  fatalistic 
valour  of  the  Islam  armies  in  their  prime. 

The  campaign  against  the  Green  Isle,  which  was  begun 
in  the  middle  of  August,  was  a  brilliant  one.  Three  of  the 
most  important  fortresses  were  taken  on  the  first  assault, 
and  merciless  sentence  passed  upon  the  vanquished  enemy. 
Cromwell  reports  with  pride  how  thousands  of  Irish  were 
cut  down  for  the  greater  glory  of  God.  It  seemed  as  if  it 
was  intended,  not  only  to  annihilate  the  enemy,  but  the 
whole  population.  Cromwell  was  summoned  to  Scotland 
before  he  could  complete  the  subjection  of  the  island ;  it 
was  left  to  his  successor,  Ireton. 

This  much  was  immediately  attained,  Ormond's  coalition 
was  destroyed.  The  English  went  over  in  masses  to  the 
camp  of  the  Independents,  while  the  Irish  alone  were  sub- 
jected to  this  war  of  extermination.  Ireton  behaved  if 
possible  more  relentlessly  than  Cromwell ;  and  out  of  the 
victories  of  these  two  men  arose  the  new  administration  of 
Ireland,  that  military  dictatorship  which  distributed  its 


6; 8  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

fruitful  lands  among  the  Saints  of  the  English  army,  and 
left  nothing  to  the  inhabitants  but  emigration  or  beggary. 

The  ruling  party  of  the  Presbyterians  in  Scotland  had 
replied  to  the  news  of  the  beheading  of  Charles  I.  by  the 
proclamation  of  Charles  II.  as  King  of  Great  Britain,  and 
at  once  entered  into  negotiations  with  him  at  the  court  of 
his  brother-in-law,  William  II.,  in  Holland.  He  responded 
to  the  appeal,  but  with  mixed  feelings,  for  the  proffered 
crown  was  not  to  be  had  for  nothing.  He  was  to  sign  the 
Covenant,  and  renounce  all  those  prerogatives  for  which  his 
father  had  contended  up  to  the  time  when  he  laid  his  head 
on  the  scaffold.  In  temporal  matters  he  was  to  be  subject 
to  Parliament;  in  ecclesiastical  ones  to  the  General  As- 
sembly. The  one  was  as  much  opposed  to  his  convictions 
as  the  other;  but  the  Scots  spared  him  no  humiliations 
when  he  sought  evasions.  He  had  to  sign  a  declaration, 
in  which  he  condemned  his  parents  for  the  idolatry  which 
had  called  down  the  wrath  of  God  upon  their  family.  If 
he  refused,  he  would  be  given  up  to  the  Independents,  as 
his  father  had  been. 

The  Scotch  now  created  an  army,  which  was  as  purely 
Presbyterian  as  that  of  their  enemies  was  Independent;  and 
in  the  summer  of  1650  the  war  began. 

On  his  invasion  of  Scotland,  Cromwell  found  himself  at 
first  in  a  situation  similar  to  that  of  the  army  of  the 
League  in  Bohemia,  in  1620.  He  longed  for  a  speedy  de- 
cision; his  army  was  suffering  from  sickness  and  famine,  and 
the  enemy  was  encamped  behind  fortified  walls,  without,  at 
first,  allowing  himself  to  be  seen  in  the  open  field. 

At  the  beginning  of  September,  after  a  fruitless  march  to 
Edinburgh,  he  arrived  with  his  famished,  demoralised  troops 
near  Dunbar.  On  the  heights  near,  lay  the  Scots,  far  superior 
in  numbers.  Their  leader,  Leslie,  was  justly  of  opinion  that 
victory  might  be  gained  without  a  battle  by  gradually 
manoeuvring  the  Independents,  who  were  not  in  possession 
of  a  single  secure  position,  out  of  the  country.  But  the 
General  Assembly,  in  its  short-sighted  zeal,  was  of  a  dif- 
ferent opinion.  It  had  made  the  discovery  around  the  green 
table  that  the  enemy  was  caught  in  the  trap,  and  that  to  let 
him  escape  would  be  to  deprive  God's  cause  of  its  laurels. 

So  they  gave  Cromwell  the  satisfaction  of  offering  battle. 
As  they  advanced,  he  exclaimed,  "  They  are  coming  down  ; 
Heaven  has  given  them  into  our  hands  ! " 


VICTORY  AT  WORCESTER.  679 

The  conflict  began  early  in  the  morning  of  the  3rd  of 
September.  Before  sunrise,  Cromwell  threw  himself  with 
an  irresistible  bound  upon  the  right  wing  of  the  enemy, 
while  the  left  wing  was  held  fast  by  a  cannonade,  and  he 
gained  a  complete  victory  early  in  the  day. 

The  Scotch  army  was  almost  annihilated,  and  several 
towns — Edinburgh  among  them — fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors.  Cromwell  was  in  the  way  to  conquer  the  whole 
country  ;  he  was  already  at  Perth,  in  the  heart  of  Scotland, 
when  Charles  II.  formed  the  bold  project  of  advancing  with 
his  army,  which  he  had  with  difficulty  re-assembled,  to  Eng- 
land, to  threaten  the  enemy  in  the  very  seat  of  his  power. 

On  the  ist  of  August,  1651,  he  appeared  with  about 
11,000  men  on  the  other  side  of  the  English  boundary, 
expecting  a  general  revolt  of  the  discontented  counties  and 
their  royalist  aristocracy.  But  he  was  mistaken.  Some 
isolated  revolts  did,  indeed,  take  place,  and  he  reached 
Worcester  without  meeting  with  any  opposition;  the  city 
even  welcomed  him  ;  but  the  masses  did  not  stir,  and 
whenever  there  were  any  symptoms  of  it  they  were  imme- 
diately put  down  by  the  Independents. 

Charles's  cause  was  lost  before  Cromwell  arrived.  Crom- 
well again  defeated  him  at  Worcester,  and  the  Royalist 
revolt  was  at  an  end.  Scotland  was  quiet  for  a  long  time, 
though  not  really  pacified. 

It  is  an  honourable  testimony  to  the  steadfast  character 
of  the  English  people,  that  opposition  did  not  cease  to  a 
system  whose  representative  they  admired,  but  the  prin- 
ciples of  which  they  condemned,  in  spite  of  all  the  suc- 
cesses of  the  Independents.  Perhaps  Cromwell's  manifest 
inclination  to  elate  the  people  by  brilliant  foreign  enter- 
prises arose  partly  from  this  fact,  for  that  had  been  the 
weak  point  with  the  Stuarts.  His  idea  might  be  to  divert 
the  nation  from  its  unsatisfactory  domestic  politics. 

This  did  not  prevent  his  being  daily  threatened  with 
attempts  at  assassination,  so  that  he  had  to  carry  loaded 
pistols  about  him.  But  his  foreign  policy  was  of  that 
nature,  that  even  the  sworn  enemies  of  his  system,  if  they 
had  a  spark  of  national  pride,  could  not  fail  to  be  carried 
away  with  it,  and  to  acknowledge  that  the  great  Puritan 
had  accomplished  what  no  legitimate  monarch  had  done 
before  him.  After  his  arms  had  subjugated  the  three  king- 
doms, he  began  to  contend  for  the  dominion  of  the  seas. 


680  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

His  brother  in  the  faith,  Robert  Blake,*  transferred  the 
spirit  of  Puritan  warfare  to  the  navy,  drove  the  royalist 
corsairs,  Prince  Rupert  and  Prince  Maurice,  before  him, 
humbled  Portugal,  and,  after  a  long  struggle,  conquered 
Holland — the  great  maritime  state  of  the  age.  England 
entered  into  the  northern  coalition,  joined  France  in  an 
alliance  against  Spain,  and  soon  there  was  no  complica- 
tion in  Europe,  great  or  small,  in  which  Cromwell  did  not 
take  part.  He  made  himself  the  guardian  of  definite  in- 
terests on  the  Continent.  Protestantism  had  a  strong  sup- 
port in  him.  He  even  interposed  at  Turin,  to  gain  more 
liberty  for  some  Waldensian  communities  in  Savoy.  Even 
Louis  XIV.  did  not  refuse  his  homage.  It  went  against  him 
to  address  the  murderer  of  his  uncle  as  "  Mon  cousin;" 
but  he  said  to  his  minister,  "And  even  if  you  had  to  call 
him  '  Mon  pere,'  you  would  be  obliged  to  do  it,  for  he  is 
the  most  powerful  man  in  Europe." 

The  diplomatic  representatives  of  the  young  republic  had 
not  met  with  a  friendly  reception  anywhere  abroad  ;  but  at 
the  Hague  and  Madrid  they  had  been  received  with  open 
enmity.  Scotch  emigrants  at  the  former  had  assassinated 
the  English  ambassador,  Doreslaus,  in  May,  1649  ;  and  in 
the  following  year,  at  Madrid,  an  agent  of  Parliament  had 
also  been  murdered  by  Englishmen  as  he  sat  with  loaded 
pistols  at  table,  and  in  both  places  public  opinion  had  sided 
with  the  murderers.  From  the  connection  between  the 
house  of  Orange  and  the  Stuarts  it  was  not  to  be  expected, 
if  the  former  retained  any  influence,  that  it  would  fall  into 
the  scale  of  the  republic.  While  the  Spanish  Government 
interposed  with  some  severity  about  the  murder  of  the 
ambassador,  the  court  of  Orange  became  the  centre  of  all 
sorts  of  intrigues  against  the  republic,  and  permitted  the 
new  ambassador,  St.  John,  to  be  publicly  ill  used.  Although 
they  had  themselves  risen  out  of  revolution,  the  Orange 
family  behaved  as  if  they  had  been  the  oldest  legitimate 
power  in  Europe.  Cromwell  had  least  of  all  expected  this 
from  Holland.  He  had  projected  an  alliance,  offensive 
and  defensive,  between  the  two  republics,  a  common  policy 
of  their  Protestant  and  republican  interests  against  the 
encroaching  system  of  absolute  Catholic  monarchy. 

•  Robert  Blake,  Admiral  and  General -at- Sea :  based  on  family  and 
State  papers.  By  Hepworth  Dixon,  1858. 


THE  NAVIGATION  ACT.  68 1 

But  there  was  no  inclination  for  this  in  Holland ;  they 
only  beheld  in  Cromwell  the  dangerous  rival  on  the  seas, 
whose  supremacy  would  only  have  been  strengthened  by 
such  a  league. 

The  little  naval  war  with  Holland  was  already  going  on, 
when  a  step  was  taken  by  England  of  the  utmost  funda- 
mental and  practical  importance. 

The  Navigation  Act  of  1651,  without  mentioning  Hol- 
land by  name,  struck  a  mortal  blow  at  her  commerce.  It 
consisted,  with  very  little  exception,  of  the  exchange  of 
wares  produced  not  at  home  but  in  foreign  countries.  The 
Navigation  Act  now  ruled  that  all  wares  from  abroad  could 
only  be  carried  in  English  ships,  under  pain  of  confiscation 
of  the  ship  and  cargo ;  all  goods  from  the  Continent  only  in 
English  ships,  or  in  those  of  the  country  producing  them. 

The  Dutch  colonial  and  transit  trade  was  by  this  measure 
entirely  cut  off  by  the  English  market.  This  was  the  occa- 
sion of  the  following  war ;  and  so  useful  a  measure  was  it 
for  England,  that  it  was  only  a  few  years  ago  that  she  dis- 
pensed with  this  crutch.  There  was  no  better  means  of 
establishing  England's  supremacy  —  maritime  and  com- 
mercial— and  it  did,  in  fact,  lay  the  foundation  of  England's 
greatness.  The  Dutch  still  had  the  first  fleet  in  the  world, 
the  best  ships  of  war,  the  greatest  naval  heroes  of  the  age ; 
and  yet  fate  would  have  it  that  the  admired  admirals — Van 
Tromp,  De  Ruyler,  De  Witt — had  to  strike  their  sails  before 
a  hitherto  unknown  sailor,  Robert  Blake. 

The  war  began  with  the  seizure  of  Dutch  merchant 
ships,  soon  reaching  the  number  of  a  thousand,  and  was 
decided  by  a  number  of  naval  engagements,  greater  or  less, 
in  the  course  of  which  the  Dutch  Armada  was  nearly  an- 
nihilated. The  three  days'  engagement  between  Portland 
and  La  Hogue,  February,  1653,  and  that  of  two  days  near 
Dunkirk,  June,  1653,  showed  that  the  supremacy  of  the 
young  English  fleet  was  indisputable.  The  Peace  of  April, 
1654,  was  dictated  by  Cromwell.  Holland  had  to  submit 
to  the  Navigation  Act,  to  renounce  the  favour  of  the  Stuarts, 
and  attach  itself  to  Cromwell's  policy. 

These  were  feats  which  not  only  won  transitory  fame, 
they  were  lasting  achievements ;  from  this  naval  war  dates 
the  position  of  the  English  fleet ;  from  this  Peace  the  un- 
disputed sovereignty  of  England  over  the  seas. 

Croirwell  had  formed  a  just  estimate  of  the  importance 


682  THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

of  this  policy  to  his  domestic  system.  He  had  no  need  to 
enter  into  many  considerations  by  which  legitimate  powers 
were  hampered,  but  he  must  not  expose  himself  to  discredit : 
his  reputation  was  his  sole  title-deed ;  it  must  be  kept  clear 
as  the  day. 

In  all  these  difficult  complications,  by  a  singular  com- 
bination of  skill  and  good  fortune,  he  was  successful,  with 
one  exception,  in  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  civil 
domestic  administration. 

CROMWELL'S  CONSTITUTIONAL  EXPERIMENTS. — DISMISSAL 
OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. — THE  CONSTITUTION  OF 
DECEMBER,  1653. 

The  "  Commonwealth  without  King  or  Lords,"  as  the 
Republic  was  officially  styled,  was  at  first  governed  by  a 
Council  of  State  composed  of  forty-one  members,  the 
majority  of  whom  were  in  Parliament,  and  this  ruled  in 
accordance  with  the  regulations  of  the  Rump,  the  remnant 
of  the  Long  Parliament.  The  Council  of  State  was  entirely 
in  Cromwell's  hands ;  but  the  Rump  Parliament  chose  to 
have  a  will  of  its  own,  and  was  a  source  of  perpetual 
embarrassment  to  him.  As  long  as  the  war  had  lasted 
against  the  Royalists  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  no  great  dis- 
cord had  come  to  light.  In  February,  1652,  both  parties 
had  joined  in  an  amnesty,  but  soon  decided  differences 
arose  out  of  various  small  discontents ;  war  broke  out 
more  and  more  between  the  army  and  Parliament.  Parlia- 
ment wished  to  get  rid  of  the  inconvenient  and  now 
superfluous  Saints,  the  army  was  tired  of  the  everlasting 
speech-makers,  and  was  disposed  to  disperse  them  by  force, 
as  they  had  done  twice  before. 

Parliament  no  longer  enjoyed  any  credit  either  with  the 
army  or  the  nation.  Even  at  the  time  when  the  Purge 
took  place  by  means  of  the  army,  the  doings  of  the 
assembly  were  universally  hated,  and  the  army's  coup  d'etat 
had  been  very  popular. 

There  were  still  fifty  or  sixty  members  of  the  old  Parlia- 
ment left,  and  their  harsh  and  self-seeking  administration 
remained  just  as  it  was.  A  number  of  petitions  poured  in, 
general  discontent  made  itself  heard  about  the  way  in  which 
members  of  Parliament  managed  the  confiscated  estates  for 
their  own  benefit  or  that  of  their  relations,  the  number  of 


COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  PARLIAMENT.  683 

unworthy  officials  sent  by  Parliament  into  the  provinces  to 
look  after  the  interests  of  their  own  relations,  the  injustice 
of  the  Presbyterians,  &c. 

The  army  took  up  all  these  grievances,  and,  in  stormy  ad- 
dresses, demanded  the  dismissal  of  these  wrong-headed  repre- 
sentatives of  the  country.  Cromwell  permitted  these  senti- 
ments to  increase  till  the  question  was  ripe  for  interference. 

At  first  he  tried  in  Parliament  itself,  with  the  help  of  the 
votes  in  his  favour,  to  carry  motions  adapted  to  get  rid  of 
this  inconvenient  Assembly.  On  the  1 3th  of  November,  1652, 
he  succeeded  in  this  by  a  motion  which  set  a  definite  limit 
to  the  existence  of  this  everlasting  Parliament.  But  they 
could  not  come  to  any  agreement  as  to  the  laws  by  which 
the  future  House  was  to  be  constituted. 

The  Assembly  wished  to  insure  the  re-election  of  its 
members  into  the  new  Parliament,  the  army  and  Cromwell 
wished  for  an  entirely  new  House.  They  were  involved 
in  a  dispute  ostensibly  upon  this  point  or  that ;  but  really 
about  the  executive  power  and  their  own  existence. 

The  discussion  of  the  election  laws  took  a  course  which 
the  army  could  but  consider  very  unfavourable  ;  it  began  to 
consider  that  it  was  itself  the  only  true  Parliament,  and 
had  more  than  once  decidedly  interfered  as  such. 

In  April,  1653,  the  breach  took  place. 

On  receiving  intelligence  that  the  decisive  question  was  to 
be  discussed  on  the  morning  of  the  2oth  of  April,  Cromwell 
entered  Parliament,  and  had  the  approaches  to  the  House 
occupied  by  the  military.  During  the  debate,  he  rose  and 
gave  the  assembly  a  catalogue  of  its  sins,  and  finally  in- 
formed them  that  they  were  no  longer  a  Parliament ;  that 
they  had  proved  themselves  unworthy  of  the  name,  and 
must  immediately  leave  the  room.  The  doors  then  opened, 
the  musketeers  entered  and  dispersed  the  assembly. 

Cromwell  now  summoned  an  assembly  of  notables,  as  it 
would  have  been  called  in  France,  from  amongst  his  own 
party.  This  was  the  Short,  or  Bare-bone  Parliament,  so  called, 
which  met  at  Whitehall,  144  in  number,  in  July,  1653. 

The  flower  of  the  Independent  sect  had  seats  in  it,  and 
their  doings  were  in  unison  with  the  spirit  of  this  party. 
The  Short  Parliament  does  not  deserve  the  sport  which  is 
made  of  it  by  nearly  all  parties  in  England.*  Its  attempts 

•  For  a  just  estimate  of  it,  see  Ranke,  iii.  417. 


684  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

at  reform  were  radical  and  thorough,  and,  though  only 
partially  successful,  they  were  meant  in  earnest,  and  struck 
at  all  the  real  existing  grievances  in  England.  The  attacks 
upon  the  chaos  of  English  law  and  criminal  proceedings, 
regulations  about  debtors,  the  establishment  of  the  principle 
of  civil  marriage,  the  attack  upon  ecclesiastical  tithes — all 
this  proves  a  praiseworthy  zeal  to  advance  the  interests  of 
the  nation. 

But  these  projects  occasioned  fearful  embitterment 
amongst  all  classes  of  the  people,  and  Cromwell  saw  that 
by  changes  so  radical  he  would  lose  his  last  support  in  the 
nation ;  but  a  programme  was  put  forth  for  future  times  which 
was  not  in  vain. 

Discord  broke  out  in  the  assembly,  and  Cromwell's 
musketeers  were  again  of  service.  A  project  for  a  consti- 
tution was  put  forth  by  a  minority  of  the  notables,  who, 
however,  had  the  army  on  its  side,  by  which  the  assembly 
placed  the  supreme  power  in  the  hands  of  a  Lord  Pro- 
tector of  the  Republic,  and  conferred  this  dignity  on 
Cromwell. 

The  constitution  of  December,  1653,  bears  less  the 
stamp  of  a  revolutionary  period  than  might  have  been 
expected.  Circumstances  like  those  which  then  existed  are 
not  generally  adapted  for  the  formation  of  good  constitu- 
tions, but  this  one,  considering  the  way  in  which  it  arose, 
was  a  very  commendable  work,  and  contains  much  that  the 
Whigs  to  this  day  look  upon  as  progress. 

The  Lord  Protectorate  was  a  constitutional  office,  limited 
by  the  army  and  Parliament,  and  was  specially  distinguished 
from  the  monarchical  dignity  by  the  fact  that  it  was  not 
hereditary. 

Law  and  justice  were  to  be  administered  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Protector.  He  distributed  offices  and  dignities, 
had  the  right  of  pardon,  except  for  murder  and  high  treason, 
and  all  confiscated  property  fell  to  him.  In  all  other  cases 
he  was  bound  to  the  Council  and  Parliament. 

The  Council  of  State  consisted  of  twenty-five  members, 
and  was  chiefly  composed  of  military  men.  The  Protector 
could  neither  nominate  nor  dismiss  any  member  of  it  at  his 
own  pleasure.  When  vacancies  occurred  he  had  to  choose 
in  accordance  with  the  proposals  of  the  Council.  It  was 
only  in  unison  with  the  Council  that  he  could  decide  on 
questions  of  war  and  peace,  or  form  alliances,  dispose  of 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF    1653.  685 

the  army,  or  proclaim  regulations  as  provisional  laws.     They 
also  nominated  the  Lord  Protector's  successor. 

The  power  of  making  laws  belonged  exclusively  to  Par- 
liament, against  the  statutes  of  which  the  Protector's  veto 
only  had  a  delaying  power;  all  bills  were  to  receive  his 
sanction,  but  if  it  was  not  given  within  twenty  days,  they 
became  law  without  it. 

The  standing  army  was  to  consist  of  20,000  foot  and 
10,000  horse.  The  Protector  had  an  absolute  veto  upon 
the  diminution  of  the  means  once  voted  for  their  support. 

Parliament  was  to  meet  regularly  every  three  years. 
Should  the  Protector  not  keep  to  this  rule,  the  Council  was 
to  summon  it,  and,  in  case  they  also  neglected  to  do 
so,  the  sheriffs  of  the  counties,  under  pain  ot  high  treason. 
During  the  first  five  months  of  its  meeting  an  ordinary  Par- 
liament could  only  be  prorogued  or  dissolved  with  its  own 
consent ;  an  extraordinary  one,  after  three  months. 

Parliament  was  to  number  four  hundred  members  for 
England,  thirty  for  Scotland,  thirty  for  Ireland.  The 
election  laws  secured,  as  far  as  possible,  an  equal  repre- 
sentation of  the  classes  possessing  property ;  every  one  had 
a  vote,  and  was  eligible  for  election  who  possessed  ^200 
of  movable  or  immovable  property,  except  Catholics  and 
rebels,  who  had  fought  against  Parliament. 

Rotten  boroughs  were  disfranchised.  The  counties  had 
261  seata  in  Parliament,  and  were  more  uniformly  repre- 
sented than  has  been  the  case  before  or  since.  The  fault 
of  this  constitution  was  not  that  it  was  too  liberal.  The 
Whigs  have  often  said,  in  relation  to  it,  that  their  ideal  also 
was  a  State  without  a  House  of  Lords,  or  a  State  Church, 
based  upon  universal  suffrage.  No ;  the  mistake  was 
that,  according  to  this  constitution,  Cromwell  governed  only 
with  a  democratic  minority,  while  the  powerful  aristocratic 
factors  of  the  previous  Upper  House  and  the  offended  State 
Church  remained  in  the  background.  It  was  a  question 
whether  these  elements  were  not  strong  enough,  without 
taking  part  in  Parliament,  to  render  the  whole  system 
untenable  by  passive  resistance. 

It  was  evidently  a  relief  to  Cromwell  when  the  Constitu- 
tion was  solemnly  inaugurated.  On  the  i6th  of  December, 
as  holder  of  the  new  dignity,  he  received  the  homage  of  the 
heads  of  the  State  amidst  great  pomp,  took  the  oath  to  the 
Constitution,  and  had  the  sword  and  great  seal  delivered  to 


686  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

him.  The  ceremony  was  much  like  an  enthronement :  he 
was  lord  of  the  three  kingdoms,  as  no  king  had  been  before 
him ;  the  title  only  was  wanting  to  make  him  the  equal  of 
sovereigns. 

Then  followed  the  glorious  year  1654  :  the  brilliant  peace 
with  Holland,  the  humiliation  of  Portugal,  the  treaties  with 
Sweden  and  Denmark,  by  which  a  projected  coalition 
against  England  was  frustrated ;  in  short,  the  beginning  of 
a  commanding  position  on  the  Continent. 

Cromwell  now  summoned  his  first  constitutional  Parlia- 
ment for  the  3rd  of  September,  the  anniversary  of  the  victories 
at  Dunbar  and  Worcester. 

The  elections  were  perfectly  free ;  there  was  no  limitation 
imposed,  or  even  allowable  influence  used  by  the  Govern- 
ment; and  as  the  Royalists,  either  from  shyness  or  timidity, 
kept  in  the  background,  the  votes  were  given  to  purely 
democratic  elements. 

THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1654-5  AND  THE  MILITARY 
GOVERNMENT. 

On  September  3rd,  1654,  Parliament  met.  Cromwell 
delivered  a  proud  speech.  None  of  his  utterances  of  this 
kind  are  of  the  stiff  and  formal  character  of  modern  times ; 
they  were  the  effusions  of  a  man,  not  of  the  schools,  but 
of  deeds,  who,  as  he  himself  once  said,  considered  it  to  be 
his  mission  to  "  speak  things."  He  often  lost  himself  in 
misty  reflections,  or  in  edifying  exposition  of  passages  of 
Scripture ;  but  on  all  decisive  questions,  the  sound  sense  of 
this  wonderfully-gifted  man  was  conspicuous.  It  was  espe- 
cially the  case  with  this  speech. 

Cromwell  spoke  of  the  errors  of  the  last  Parliament,  of 
the  desires  of  the  Levellers,  who  wanted  to  turn  things 
upside  down,  and  who  therefore  could  not  be  allowed  to 
continue  in  power. 

He  said  : — "  As  to  the  authority  in  the  nation — to  the 
ranks  and  orders  of  men,  whereby  England  hath  been 
known  for  hundreds  of  years — the  'natural'  magistracy 
of  the  nation,  was  it  not  almost  trampled  underfoot  by 
men  of  levelling  principles  ?  I  beseech  you,  did  not  that 
levelling  principle  tend  to  the  reducing  of  all  to  an  equality? 
which  I  think,  if  obtained,  would  not  have  lasted  long  ! 
Aud  that  the  thing  did  and  might  well  extend  far  is  mani- 


THE   PARLIAMENT  OF    1654-5.  687 

fest,  because  it  was  a  pleasing  voice  to  all  poor  men,  and 
truly  not  unwelcome  to  all  bad  men Such  consider- 
ations and  pretensions  to  '  liberty  of  conscience,'  what  are 
they  leading  us  toward  ?  Liberty  of  conscience  and  liberty 
of  the  subject, — two  as  glorious  things  to  be  contended  for 
as  any  that  God  hath  given  us  ;  yet  both  these  abused  lor 
the  patronising  of  villanies  !  Insomuch,  that  it  hath  been 
an  ordinary  thing  to  affirm,  '  that  the  restraining  of 
such  pernicious  notions  was  not  in  the  magistrate's  power.' 
....  So,  likewise,  the  axe  was  laid  to  the  root  of  the 
ministry.  '  It  was  Antichristian  ;  it  was  Babylonish,'  said 
they.  .  .  .  The  former  extremity  we  suffered  under  was, 
that  no  man,  though  he  had  never  so  good  a  testimony, 
though  he  had  received  gifts  from  Christ,  might  preach 
unless  ordained.  So  now,  I  think,  we  are  at  the  other 
extremity,  when  many  affirm  that  he  who  is  ordained  hath 
a  nullity,  so  that  he  ought  not  to  preach,  or  not  be 
heard."  * 

Against  these  and  other  ruinous  excrescences  a  remedy 
had  been  found  in  the  Constitution  which  might  speak  for 
itself,  but  which  must  not  be  interfered  with. 

He  then  glanced  at  the  foreign  relations  of  the  Republic, 
mentioned  the  honourable  treaties  which  had  been  con- 
cluded with  Sweden,  Denmark,  Holland,  and  Portugal, 
while  a  similar  one  with  France  was  in  prospect.  "  And," 
he  said,  "  I  daresay  there  is  not  a  nation  in  Europe  but  is 
very  willing  to  ask  a  good  understanding  with  you."  He 
concluded,  among  other  things,  with  the  words,  "  As  I  said 
before,  a  door  of  hope  is  open.  And  I  may  say  this  to 
you  :  If  the  Lord's  blessing  and  his  presence  go  along  with 
the  management  of  affairs  at  this  meeting,  you  will  be 
enabled  to  put  the  top-stone  to  the  work,  and  make  this 
nation  happy."  t 

At  first  Cromwell's  hearers  were  affected  by  his  lofty 
modesty ;  but  then  the  democratic  spirit  of  the  majority 
felt  repulsed  by  the  advice  to  abide  by  what  had  been 
accomplished,  and  to  build  upon  the  foundation  already 
laid. 

His  opinion  was  that  the  Constitution,  without  reference 
to  its  origin,  should  now  be  expressly  acknowledged  as 

*  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,  vol.  iii.  p.  21,  &c.  (abridged.) 
t  Ibid.,  p.  35. 


688  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

legal,  and  that  the  previous  fruitless  strife  should  not  begin 
again.  But  the  democrats  were  of  a  different  opinion. 
They  had  not  made  the  Constitution  ;  consequently,  it  was 
not  binding  on  them,  and  they  rode  their  principles  to 
death  in  a  way  that  is  never  more  dangerous  than  at  such 
times. 

Cromwell  had  hoped,  with  their  help,  to  put  an  end  to 
the  revolution ;  instead  of  that,  they  renewed  the  strife 
which  had  given  rise  to  it.  He  now  delivered  a  second 
warning  speech.  He  reminded  them  that  he  had  not 
called  himself  to  the  office  of  Protector,  but  that  he  had 
been  called  to  it  by  the  will  of  God  and  of  the  nation  ; 
that  the  constitution  was  not  his  work,  but  the  work  of  the 
army.  He  says,  "  The  soldiery  were  a  very  considerable 
part  of  these  nations,  especially  all  government  being  dis- 
solved, and  nothing  to  keep  things  in  order  but  the  sword  ! 
And  yet  they — which  many  histories  will  not  parallel — even 
they  were  desirous  that  things  might  come  to  a  consistency; 
and  arbitrariness  be  taken  away,  and  the  government  be 
put  into  the  hands  of  a  person  limited  and  bounded,  as  in 
the  Act  of  Settlement,  whom  they  distrusted  the  least,  and 
loved  not  the  worst." 

"  I  have  to  say : — The  wilful  throwing  away  of  this 
government,  such  as  it  is,  so  owned  by  God,  so  approved 
by  men,  were  a  thing  which, — and  in  reference  not  to  my 
good,  but  to  the  good  of  these  nations  and  of  posterity, — I 
can  sooner  be  willing  to  be  rolled  into  my  grave  and  buried 
with  infamy  than  I  can  give  my  consent  unto.  You  have 
been  called  hither  to  save  a  nation.  Through  the  blessing 
of  God,  our  enemies  were  hopeless  and  scattered.  We  had 
peace  at  home.  These  things  we  had  a  few  days  ago  when 
you  came  hither.  And  now  ?  And  now  to  have  our  peace 
and  interest  thus  shaken,  and  ourselves  rendered  hereby 
almost  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  those  strangers  who  are 
amongst  us  to  negotiate  their  masters'  affairs.  To  give 
them  opportunity  to  see  our  nakedness  as  they  do,  a  people 
that  have  been  unhinged  this  twelve-years  day,  and  are  un- 
hinged still  ? — as  if  scattering,  division,  and  contusion  came 
upon  us  like  things  we  desired. 

"  Who  can  answer  for  these  things  to  God  or  to  men — to 
the  people  who  sent  you  hither,  who  looked  for  nothing  but 
peace  and  quietness,  and  rest  and  settlement  ?  When  we 
come  to  give  an  account  to  them,  we  shall  have  it  to  say, 


CROMWELL  AND  PARLIAMENT.  689 

'  Oh,  we  quarrelled  for  the  liberty  of  England?  The  liberty 
of  England,  the  liberty  of  the  people,  is  made  so  safe  by 
this  Act  of  Settlement,  that  it  will  speak  for  itself."  * 

In  conclusion,  he  demanded  from  all  the  members  a  writ- 
ten declaration  that  they  acknowledged  the  Constitution  as 
legal,  a  proviso  that  was  specially  made  in  the  writs  for 
future  representatives.  The  majority  signed,  but  the  pro- 
ceedings did  not  take  a  more  favourable  course.  The 
assembly  persisted  in  not  considering  itself  a  legislative 
assembly,  but  as  one  whose  object  it  was  to  form  a  con- 
stitution in  placing  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  above 
every  other  consideration,  thus  again  rendering  the  existing 
state  of  things  entirely  uncertain. 

On  the  22nd  of  January,  1655,  he  made  a  third  speech, 
and  represented  to  them  the  fruitlessness  of  their  contention 
about  trifles.  "  Instead  of  peace  and  settlement— weeds, 
nettles,  briers,  and  thorns  have  thriven  under  your  shadow  ! 
I  say,  the  enemies  of  the  peace  of  these  nations  abroad  and 
at  home,  the  discontented  humours  throughout  these 
nations,  by  which  products  I  think  no  man  will  grudge  to 
call  by  that  name,  of  briers  and  thorns, — they  have  nourished 
themselves  under  your  shadow !  They  have  taken  their 
opportunities  from  your  sitting  to  conclude  that  there  would 
be  no  settlement  ?  "  f 

After  a  long  and  severe  lecture  in  this  tone  he  dissolved 
the  Parliament. 

The  Royalists  looked  on  with  no  little  satisfaction.  To 
see  the  great  Independent  at  variance  with  his  own  party, 
the  new  order  of  things  overturned  at  the  very  outset,  was 
more  than  they  had  hoped  for.  They  thought  that  the 
harvest  was  ripe.  Conspiracies  were  set  on  foot,  a  great 
revolt  was  prepared,  when  Cromwell  interposed  with  his 
usual  energy  and  usual  success.  The  democrats  also  began 
to  stir ;  an  adventurer  preached  in  the  streets  of  London 
that  the  traitor  should  be  got  rid  of,  and  a  pamphlet  came 
out  called  "  Killing  no  Murder." 

But  Cromwell  was  a  match  for  his  enemies,  and  it  is 
interesting  to  observe  how  he  proceeds.  The  Royalist 
leaders  were  treated  with  all  the  severity  of  the  law  ;  they 
were  executed,  and  their  misguided  accomplices  were 

*  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,  extract  from  Speech  III.,  p.  40. 
t  Letters  and  Speeches,  p.  76. 

Y  Y 


690  THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

treated  with  comparative  leniency ;  precisely  the  way  in 
which  a  ruler  in  such  circumstances  should  act.  Against 
his  old  democratic  foes  he  could  not  restrain  a  certain 
amount  of  irritation  ;  they  were  tried,  imprisoned,  and  after- 
wards privately  released. 

A  more  strict  domestic  administration  was  introduced. 
The  country  was  divided  into  thirteen  districts,  each  under 
the  command  of  a  Major-general,  who  was  intrusted  with 
extensive  authority. 

In  each  of  these  thirteen  districts  a  militia  was  levied 
under  command  of  the  Major-general,  and  supported  by  an 
income-tax  of  a  tenth  imposed  upon  the  Royalists.  This 
militia  maintained  order  and  security  in  town  and  country, 
and  put  a  strict  moral  discipline  in  force  after  the  fashion  of 
Calvinistic  Geneva.  Themselves  subjected  to  a  relentless 
discipline,  they  saw  that  the  laws  against  drunkenness, 
cursing,  and  swearing  were  strictly  carried  out.  All  public- 
houses  not  absolutely  indispensable  were  suppressed,  horse- 
racing,  cock-fighting,  and  plays  forbidden. 

Each  district  thus  had  its  own  independent  militia,  and  a 
trustworthy  general  as  governor  ;  such  a  government  could 
not  be  surprised  by  any  coup  d'etat  from  the  right  or  the  left. 

To  Cromwell's  honour  it  must  be  said  that,  under  the 
form  of  military  despotism,  he  ruled  as  liberally  as  possible, 
and  that  the  warfare  which  he  was  obliged  to  wage  to  the 
end  did  not  make  him  hardened  or  gloomy. 

Above  all  things,  under  him  the  nation  enjoyed  a  liberty 
of  conscience  which  was  before  unknown ;  this  raises  him 
high  above  all  parties. 

In  1656,  he  could  say  to  Parliament,  "  Our  practice  since 
the  last  Parliament  hath  been  to  let  all  this  nation  see  that 
whatever  pretensions  to  religion  would  continue  quiet, 
peaceable,  they  should  enjoy  conscience  and  liberty  to 
themselves ;  and  not  to  make  religion  a  pretence  for  arms 
and  blood.  If  men  will  profess, — be  they  those  under 
Baptism,  be  they  those  of  the  Independent  judgment 
simply,  or  of  the  Presbyterian  judgment, — in  the  name  of 
God  encourage  them,  countenance  them  ;  so  long  as  they 
do  plainly  continue  to  be  thankful  to  God,  and  to  make  use 
of  the  liberty  given  them  to  enjoy  their  own  consciences  ! 
Men  who  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  walking  in  a  profes- 
sion answerable  to  that  faith,  who  live  upon  the  grace  of 
God — they  are  the  members  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  to  Him 


EFFECT  OF  SUCCESS  ON  CROMWELL.  691 

the  apple  of  his  eye.  Whoever  hath  this  Faith,  let  his  form 
be  what  it  will,  he  walking  peaceably,  without  prejudice  to 
others  under  other  forms ;  it  is  a  debt  due  to  God  and 
Christ.  If  a  man  of  one  form  will  be  trampling  upon  the 
heels  of  another  form ;  if  an  Independent,  for  example,  will 
despise  him  who  is  under  Baptism,  I  will  not  suffer  it  in 
him.  If,  on  the  other  side,  those  of  the  Anabaptist  judgment 
shall  be  censuring  the  Godly  ministers  of  the  nation  who 
profess  under  that  of  Independency,  or  if  those  that  profess 
under  Presbytery  shall  be  reproaching,  traducing,  and  cen- 
suring of  them  as  I  would  not  be  willing  to  see  the  day 
when  England  shall  be  in  the  power  of  the  Presbytery,  to 
impose  upon  the  consciences  of  others — so  I  will  not 
endure  any  reproach  to  them.  But  God  give  us  hearts  and 
spirits  to  keep  things  equal.  I  have  had  some  boxes  on 
the  ear  and  rebukes — on  the  one  hand  and  the  other ;  some 
censuring  me  for  Presbytery;  others  as  an  inletter  to  all 
the  sects  and  heresies  of  the  nation.  I  have  borne  my 
reproach ;  but  I  have,  through  God's  mercy,  not  been  un- 
happy in  hindering  any  one  religion  to  impose  upon 
another."  * 

Cromwell  did  not  abolish  the  strict  laws  against  the 
Catholics,  because  as  a  party  backed  by  the  Jesuits  they 
could  but  be  always  the  enemies  of  his  system  ;  but  he 
administered  them  leniently,  or  did  not  enforce  them  when 
the  Catholics  fulfilled  the  duties  of  good  citizens.  Jews, 
also,  and  Quakers,  enjoyed  his  clemency,  which  was  quite 
in  contrast  to  the  general  practice  of  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries. 

It  also  appeared  to  be  his  wish  to  show,  by  the  liberty  of 
the  press  and  the  election  laws,  that  in  spite  of  his  usurped 
power,  and  the  severe  forms  under  which  it  was  often 
exercised,  England  enjoyed  more  liberty  under  him  than 
under  many  a  government  before  him  and  around  him. 
He  often  used  to  say  to  the  Democrats,  "  Patience ;  when 
I  am  no  more  you  will  see  what  sort  of  liberty  the  Stuarts 
will  give  you." 

Characters  like  his,  amidst  such  bitter  experience,  often 
become  harsh,  defiant,  and  misanthropic;  but  Cromwell 
seemed  to  be  softened  rather  than  embittered  by  it ;  and  it 
is  one  of  the  great  features  in  the  character  of  the  man, 

*  Letters  and  Speeches,  vol.  iii.  p.  181. 


692  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

that,  rising  to  European  greatness  from  a  modest  position,  he 
proved  himself  no  less  able  to  bear  success  than  misfortune 
and  trial. 

All  that  is  great  and  glorious  in  a  gifted  nation  found  in 
him  a  zealous  protector ;  learning  flourished  under  him,  and 
the  great  poet  and  thinker,  John  Milton,  was  among  his 
most  intimate  friends. 

PARLIAMENT  OF  1656-7. — PROPOSAL  OF  A  MONARCHY. — 
CROMWELL'S  DEATH,  SEPTEMBER  3RD,  1658. 

A  new  Parliament  became  necessary  to  provide  means 
for  the  war  which  Cromwell  had  undertaken,  in  conjunction 
with  France,  against  Spain.  He  had  caused  Penn  to  set  sail 
for  America,  and  Blake  to  the  Spanish  waters,  with  despotic 
powers.  The  Spaniards  had  laid  an  embargo  on  the  Eng- 
lish ships,  and  thereby  inflicted  great  injury  on  the  com- 
merce of  England  before  any  compensating  advantage 
had  accrued ;  for  the  immense  sacrifices  demanded  by  the 
war,  neither  the  ordinary  resources,  nor  the  tax  upon  the 
Royalists,  sufficed.  He  therefore  resolved  to  summon  a 
new  Parliament. 

He  hoped  that  having  taken  a  lesson  from  the  fate  of  its 
predecessor,  it  would  take  a  view  of  things  more  favourable 
to  him.  The  elections  did  in  fact  turn  out  better,  and  even 
the  Royalists  began  to  be  more  reconciled  both  to  him  and 
his  system. 

Parliament  was  opened  on  the  xyth  of  September,  1656. 
It  was  of  importance  for  the  money  question  that  just  then 
Blake  and  Montague  had  the  good  fortune  to  capture  a 
fleet  of  Spanish  ships  in  Portuguese  waters,  laden  with 
silver,  which  yielded  a  booty  of  a  million  sterling. 

The  house  was  divided  into  two  very  decided  parties — a 
republican-military  and  a  constitutional  one  ;  which  last,  in 
order  to  put  an  end  to  uncertainty,  perpetual  conspiracies  and 
outrages,  projected  the  establishment  of  a  new  monarchy. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1657,  the  proposal  was 
made  that  the  Lord  Protector  should  conform  to  the  an- 
cient monarchical  constitution,  and  exchange  the  title  of  a 
republican  official  for  that  of  King.  The  proposal  came 
from  Cromwell's  friends ;  and  in  spite  of  the  loud  murmurs 
of  the  majors-general,  the  motion  was  carried  for  a  change 
in  the  constitution  towards  a  mon  irchical  form. 


PROPOSAL  OF  A  MONARCHY.  693 

A  monarchy  could  not  be  created  on  the  basis  of  the 
democratic  constitution  of  1653.  It  was  necessary  to  go 
further — to  restore  the  Upper  House,  to  try  to  attract  once 
more  the  aristocratic  elements  in  the  country ;  and  when 
the  great  landowning  interest  was  again  represented  in  the 
government,  it  might  be  hoped  that  the  monarchy  itself 
would  take  root.  This  was  also  Cromwell's  idea.  He  had 
succeeded  in  much  in  which  previous  governments  had 
failed.  If  he  could  now  succeed  also  in  giving  fresh  sup- 
port to  his  work  by  restoring  their  rights  to  the  old  conser- 
vative elements — the  nobles  and  the  State  Church,  thereby 
reconciling  them  to  himself  and  his  system,  he  might  hope 
that  it  was  founded  for  future  times. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  this  attempt  arose  from  the 
petty  human  vanity  of  the  parvenu.  Among  all  his  mo- 
tives, this  had  less  weight  than  any.  A  remarkable  change 
had  taken  place  within  him.  He  had  learnt  much  from 
recent  experience  ;  he  had  learnt  that  it  was  impossible  to 
govern  this  country  in  peace  with  a  purely  democratic 
representation  and  a  purely  military  administration,  if  the 
great  landowning  interest,  which  ruled  the  counties  socially, 
maintained  a  hostile  or  passive  attitude.  He  therefore 
wished  to  come  to  terms  with  these  sulky  foes,  and  the 
contemporary  sources  of  information  assure  us  that  had  he 
succeeded  in  this,  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  would  have 
been  impossible.  The  new  monarchy  would  have  been 
reconciled  with  the  ancient  conditions  of  law  and  power. 

Cromwell  had  never  been  in  a  more  delicate  position. 
On  the  one  hand,  he  saw  before  him  the  highest  aim  of 
po  itical  ambition  ;  on  the  other,  a  step  which  might  rob 
him  of  the  fruits  of  the  labours  of  his  life. 

The  obscurity  of  his  first  utterances  on  the  subject  of 
this  proposal  are  perfectly  intelligible.  It  is  plain  that 
he  wishes  to  gain  time,  to  take  counsel  with  himself ;  and 
what  he  said  in  confidence,  proved  the  real  indecision  of 
his  state  of  mind.  When  the  mover  came  and  told  him 
that  the  matter  looked  well,  Cromwell  laughed,  and  said, 
"  Thou  foolish  fellow  !  " 

He  cared  but  little  for  Parliament,  but  a  great  deal  for 
the  army,  and  there  was  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  the 
opinion  of  that.  When  he  sounded  his  generals,  he  heard 
but  one  voice.  His  old  comrades  would  not  hear  of  a  king. 
"  A  king,"  they  said,  "  is  a  tyrant ;  we  will  not  have  one." 


694  THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

The  aversion  of  the  army,  therefore,  upon  whose 
shoulders  he  had  risen,  was  indubitable.  He  did  not 
thwart  it ;  it  might  be  contrary  to  his  own  wishes,  but  he 
knew  what  the  decision  must  be.  Many  a  great  man  in  a 
similar  position  has  not  been  able  to  withstand  the  tempta- 
tion of  sacrificing  the  firm  foundation  of  his  power  to  a 
more  brilliant  position.  Cromwell  was  great  enough  to 
withstand  it,  to  resolve  not  to  break  with  those  who  had 
raised  him  up.  He  knew  how  little  the  transitory  friend- 
ship of  the  Royalists  would  avail  him,*  whom  the  first 
breeze  would  probably  blow  from  his  side  ;  and  rightly 
estimated  that  the  defection  of  his  Saints  would  be  of  far 
greater  importance.  He  therefore  declined  the  crown,  and 
said  in  his  answer  that  he  would  be  content  to  remain  the 
first  constable  of  the  nation.  On  the  other  hand,  he  pre- 
vailed upon  Parliament  to  permit  the  establishment  of  an 
Upper  House,  and  only  accepted  as  his  prerogative  the 
favour  of  naming  his  successor. 

Thus  a  monarchy  was  averted,  but  an  important  step 
towards  it  was  taken  by  the  creation  of  a  House  of  Lords  in 
order  to  reconcile  the  Conservatives  to  the  revolution. 

It  was  difficult  to  fill  the  House  in  a  satisfactory  manner ; 
the  great  families  kept  aloof,  and  in  their  place  relations 
and  complaisant  partisans  had  to  be  chosen  from  among 
the  lawyers  and  officers  ;  and  many  of  the  latter  had  been 
draymen,  tailors,  or  other  artisans.  Worse  than  this  was 
the  conflict  which  broke  out  between  the  two  Houses  im- 
mediately after  they  assembled,  on  the  zoth  of  January,  1658, 
by  which  the  very  foundations  of  the  Cromwellian  constitu- 
tion were  again  endangered.  The  Commons  vehemently 
declared  that  there  was  no  House  of  Lords,  it  had  been 
legally  abolished,  and  every  one  of  them  had  taken  the 
oath  to  the  "  Commonwealth  without  King  or  House  of 
Lords."  In  vain  Cromwell  endeavoured  to  mediate ;  the 
discord  could  not  be  healed,  and  on  the  4th  of  February, 
1658,  he  was  compelled  to  dissolve  this  Parliament  also. 
He  did  it  with  the  words,  "And  let  God  judge  between 
you  and  me." 

More  successful  than  this  attempt  to  close  the  revolution 
by  the  construction  of  a  peaceful  constitution,  was  the  Pro- 
tector's foreign  policy. 

*  For  their  opinion  see  the  report  of  Giavarina. — Ranke,  iii.  538. 


CROMWELL'S  DEATH.  695 

The  defensive  alliance  with  France  had,  in  March,  1657, 
assumed  an  offensive  character.  Mardyke  and  Dunkirk 
were  conquered  by  the  English,  Jamaica  maintained  against 
the  Spaniards.  The  star  of  the  English  arms,  the  European 
position  of  the  Protector  were  in  their  zenith,  when,  on 
September  3rd,  an  eventful  day  for  his  destiny,  he  died. 

His  death  softened  many  a  bitter  feeling,  people  now 
knew  what  they  had  lost.  England  had  never  been  more 
powerful  than  under  him,  she  had  become  the  first  empire 
in  Europe;  even  Louis  XIV.  and  Mazarin  bowed  down 
before  him ;  all  the  great  powers  of  the  Continent  felt  his 
influence,  which  was  not  only  the  result  of  English  com- 
merce, but  of  the  great  modern  ideas  of  liberty  of  con- 
science and  the  Reformation. 

Apart  from  Oliver's  past  history,  no  man  ever  occupied  a 
throne  more  worthily  than  he  did ;  and  never  did  a  revo- 
lutionary usurper  so  spare  the  germs  of  civil  liberty. 
This  was  the  salvation  of  England :  she  would  have  bled 
to  death  under  the  Stuarts,  if  the  traces  of  his  labours 
could  have  been  so  speedily  lost ;  and  it  was  his  memory 
which  finally  ruined  them. 

Calmly  and  with  undisputed  right,  like  a  legitimate  suc- 
cessor to  a  throne,  Cromwell's  son,  Richard,  assumed  the 
office  of  Protector ;  but  his  government  was  weak  and 
incompetent  in  every  respect.  Having  early  lost  his  energy 
through  a  dissolute  youih,  he  preferred  the  pleasures  of  life 
to  the  difficult  calling  of  a  ruler.  As  things  would  not  go 
on  as  he  wished  of  themselves,  in  May,  1659,  he  resigned. 
The  generals  who  governed  the  districts  of  the  country 
divided  the  inheritance ;  and  a  state  of  things  ensued,  in 
which  the  oppression  of  usurpation  was  felt  tenfold,  and 
which  yet  did  not  bring  with  it  the  greatness  and  security 
for  the  sake  of  which  so  much  had  been  forgiven  to  Crom- 
well. This  anarchical  despotism  of  the  generals,  the  con- 
flicts between  the  republican  and  royalist  parties,  was  the 
best  preparation  for  a  state  of  mind  to  which  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Stuarts  seemed  like  redemption.  Amidst  the 
acclamations  of  the  people,  and  the  gloomy  silence  of  the 
Independents,  Charles  II.  was  recalled,  the  defunct  Rump 
Parliament  brought  to  life  again  ;  and  the  same  Parliament 
which  had  once  decreed  the  fall  of  the  Stuarts  now  sealed 
their  restoration. 


INDEX. 


Adrian  XI.,  89. 

Alba,    Duke  of,  in   the  Nether- 
lands, 316,  317. 

,  Retreat  of,  328. 

Alexander  of  Parma,  340. 
Anhalt,  Wilhelm  von,  5. 
Anjou,  Duke  of,  377. 
Augsburg,  Confession  of,  122. 
-,  Diet  of,  1 20. 


— ,  Interim  of,  215. 
-,  Peace  of,  403-405. 


Austria,  Don  John  of,  338-340. 

Bacon,  Lord,  Trial  of,  609. 
Baner,  526-528,  538. 
Barcelona,  Peace  of,  112. 
Barebone  Parliament,  683. 
Barlaymont,  296,  307. 
Barwald,  Treaty  of,  466. 
Battle  of  Breitenfeld,  470. 

of  Copraby  Bridge,  658. 

of  Dunbar,  678. 

of  Edge  Hill,  653. 

of  Liitzen,  480. 

of  Alarston  Moor,  658. 

of  Mooker  Haide,  332. 

of  Miihlberg,  213. 

of  Naseby,  664. 

of  Newbury,  654. 

of  Nordlingen,  516,  517. 

of  Pavia,  58. 

of  Prague,  423. 

of  Worcester,  679. 


Bavaria,  Duke  Maximilian  of,  410- 

412. 

Beggars,  306. 
Beggars'  League,  311. 
Bernhard    of   Weimar,   502-505, 

522-525,  528-536. 


Beza,  246,  359. 

Blake,  Robert,  680,  68 1. 

Bohemia,    Persecution    in,    425, 

426. 

•-•• ,  War  in,  609,  610. 

Bothwell,  Earl  of,  587-589. 
Breitenfield,  Battle  of,  470. 
Brunswick,  Duke  Henry  of,  192. 
Buckingham,  Duke  of,  614,  619, 

6^0,  623. 
Bull  against  Luther,  27. 

Cajetan,  8,  19. 

at  Augsburg,  31. 

Calais,  Loss  of,  572. 
Calmar,  Union  of,  143. 
Calvin,  241. 

,  his  Youth,  241. 

,  his     Institutio     Christiana 

Religionis,  243. 

,  Exile  and  Recall,  248. 

,  his  Ecclesiastical   State  of 

Geneva,  248-251. 
Calvinism,  Significance  of,  253- 

255- 

Campaign  of  1521-26,  55. 
Carlstadt,  22. 
Catherine  de  Medici,   346,   347, 

349,  355.  359.  374- 
Charles  V.,  32-39. 

Election  of,  35. 
Election  Bond,  36. 
Character  and  Policy, 


40,  41 


Defeat  of,  233. 
Abdication  of,  235. 
Cloister  Life  of,  236. 


Charles  IX.,  356,  364,  368. 
,  Death  of,  374. 


698 


INDEX. 


Charles  IX.  of  Sweden,  450,  451. 
Charles  I.,  616-672. 
,    Breach     with    Parlia- 
ment, 641. 

,  in  Scotland,  641. 

,  sold  to  the  Scotch,  665. 

Escape  to  the  Isle  of 


Wight,  668. 

,  Trial  of,  671. 

,  Execution  of,  672. 

Results  of  his  Death, 


673- 

and  Louis  XVI.,  Paral- 
lel between,  673. 

Christian  II.  of  Denmark,  146- 
150. 

Christian  III.  of  Denmark,  152. 

Christian  IV.  of  Denmark,  430, 

431- 
Church  of  England,  576,  577. 

,  The  French,  349. 

Civil  War,  The,  651-672. 

Clement  VII.,  1 10. 

Cognac,  Treaty  of,  1 10. 

Coligny,  366-369. 

College  des  Trois  Langues,  350. 

Commonwealth,  The,  673-695. 

Conference  of  German  and  Swiss 

Reformers  at  Marburg,  119. 
Confession  of  Augsburg,  122. 
Congress  of  Miinster  and  Osna- 

briick,  547. 

,     Territorial 


Questions  at,  549,  550. 


Religious 

Questions  at,  553-5S6- 
,        Political 

Regulations  at,  556-559. 
Conspiracy  of  Amboise,  353,  354. 
Constitution  of  1653,  685. 

Ratisbon,  91. 

Convention  of  Leipzig,  467,  468. 
Copraby  Bridge,  Battle  of,  658. 
Cotta,  Conrad,  5. 
Council  of  Blood,  319,  320. 

of  Trent,  218-220,  258- 

264. 

Covenant,  The,  633. 
Cranmer,  563. 

• ,  Death  of,  571. 

Cromwell,  658-695. 

,  Overtures  of  Charles 

I.  to,  668. 


Cromwell,    his     "  Saints,"    662, 
665,  666,  674,  676,  682. 

,  Letter  to  Hammond, 

670. 

and  Louis  XIV.,  680. 

,as  Protector,  684,  695. 
,    Speeches    of,    686, 

,    Proposal    to    make 
King,  692,  694. 

-,  his  Foreign  Policy, 


688,  690. 


694. 
,    Religious     Liberty 

under,  691. 

,  Death  of,  695. 

Cromwell,  Richard,  695. 

D'Albret,  Jeanne,  353,  358. 
D'Ancre,  Marshal,  478. 
Davison,  Secretary,  598. 
De  Donatione  Constantini,  79. 
Del  Beneficio  di  Giesu  Cristo,  257, 

274. 
Diet  of  Augsburg,  1 20. 

of  Nuremberg,  70. 

of  Ratisbon,  542. 

of  Worms,  42-47. 

Donauworth,  410-412. 
Dunbar,  Battle  of,  678. 

Edge  Hill,  Battle  of,  653. 
Edict  of  Amboise,  362. 

of  Longjumeaux,  363. 

of  Nantes,  394,  395. 

of  Restitution,  438-441. 


—  of  St.  Germain,  359. 


Edinburgh,  Riots  at,  632. 
Edward  VI.,  562-565. 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  574-602. 

,  Estimate  of,  574. 

,  her  Attitude  to- 
wards Catholicism,  575,  576. 

,    her   Treatment 

of  Mary  Stuart,  590. 

-,     Plots   against, 


594-596. 


Tilbury,  600. 


-,   her   Speech   at 

-,  Death  of,  602. 
Eric  XIV.  of  Sweden,  445,  446. 

Fairfax,  654,  657,  663,  665. 
Farel,  246. 


INDEX. 


699 


Ferdinand  II.,  416-420,  545. 
Five    Members,     arrest    of    the, 

647. 

France,  growth  of  power  in,  47-51. 
Francis!.,  32-35,  51-55. 
Francis  II.,  352,  355. 
Franz  von  Sickingen,  81-85. 

-,    his  Attack 


on  Treves,  85. 
86. 


-,  his  Death, 


Frederic    V.   of  the    Palatinate, 

420-423,  609,  6 10. 
Frederick  the  Wise,  27,  32,  45. 
French  Protestantism,  352,  353. 

General  Assembly,  The,  633. 
German  Empire,  Decay  of  the, 

556-559. 

Ghent,  Pacification  of,  337,  338. 
Granvella,  Cardinal,  294-295,  302, 

303- 
Great  Remonstrance,   The,   645, 

646. 

Grey,  Lady  Jane,  564,  565. 
Guise,  Mary  of,  348. 
Guises,  The,  348. 
Gunpowder  Plot,  606. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  450-482. 

,  in  Germany, 


458-461. 


473-476. 


-,  Projects  of, 
-,    Death    of, 


480-482. 
Gustavus  Vasa,  153-162. 

Hampden,  John,  629,  630. 

Heilbronn  Scheme,  100. 

Henry  II.  of  France,  345. 

Henry  III.  of  France,    375-377, 
379,  38o. 

,  Murder  of,  381. 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  382-395. 

,  his  Conversion  to  Ca- 
tholicism, 391-393. 

-,  Assassination  of,  401. 


Henry  VIIL,  166-168. 

and  Luther,  169. 

and     the     Marriage 

Question,  169-173. 

-  Confiscationof  Church 


Property  under,  1 76. 


Henry  VIII.,  Confusion  left  by, 
561. 

,  his  Marriages,  561. 

Herrman  von  Wied,  194. 
High  Commission,  The,  627. 
Holland,  War  with,  680,  68 1. 
Horn,  Admiral,  306,  310. 
Huguenots,  The,  358. 
Humanism  in  France,  350. 
Humanists,  the  German,  25,  77. 
Huss,  24,  26. 

Imperial  Chamber,  68-70. 
Independents,  The,  656,  657. 
Indulgences,  16,  17. 
Inquisition,  273-275. 

in  the  Netherlands,  299, 

300. 

Interim  of  Augsburg,  215. 
Italy  and  the  Reformation,  256. 

James  I.,  603-615. 

,  his  Character,  604. 

,  Death  of,  615. 

Jesuitism,  265. 

Jesuits,  Order  of,  268-273. 

John  Frederick,  of  Saxony,  212, 

213. 
,  Treatment  of,  by 

Charles  V.,  222. 
John  III.  of  Sweden,  446,  449. 
John  of  Leyden,  184. 
John  of  Werth,  526,  527. 
Justification  by  Faith,  8-1O. 

Killing  no  Murder,  689. 
Klesel,  Cardinal,  417,  418. 
Knox,  John,  580-582. 

La  Rochelle,  620. 

Laud,  Archbishop,  625-627. 

Laurentius  Valla,  79. 

Leipzig,  Convention  of,  467,  468. 

Leo  X.,  19,  89. 

Leyden,  Siege  of,  333. 

Long  Parliament,  636-638. 

,    Dismissal     of 

the,  683. 
Louis  of  Nassau,  305. 

Death  of,  332. 

Louis  XIII.,  487-489. 
Louis  XIV.,  549. 
Loyola,  Ignatius,  266,  267. 


7oo 


INDEX. 


Luther,  2. 

,  his  Youth,  3-5. 

,  at  Eisenach,  5. 

,  at  Erfurt,  6,  7. 

,  at  Wittenberg,  13. 

,  his  Preaching,  14. 

,  his  Journey  to  Rome,  14. 

,  his  Theses,  18. 

,  Discussion  with  Cajetan, 

20. 
,  his  Appeal  to  the  Pope, 


,  Discussion  with  Eck,  at 

Leipzig,  23. 

his  Address  to  the  Ger- 


man Nobles,  27. 

,  at  Worms,  43,  44. 

,  at  the  Wartburg,  60. 

his   Translation    of   the 


Bible,  60-65. 

,  and  the  Radicals,  65-68. 

,  his  Attitude  in  the  Pea- 
sants' War,  102. 
— ,  his  Death,  198. 


Lilt/en,  Battle  of,  480. 

Madrid,  Peace  of,  106. 
Magdeburg,  Siege  of,  469. 
Magna  Charta,  164. 
Mansfeld,  General,  435. 
Margaret  of  Parma,  293,  307-309, 

313.  3I4- 

Marston  Moor,  Battle  of,  658. 
Mary  of  Medici,  484. 
Mary,  Queen,  565-573. 

,  Estimate  of,  565. 

,    Catholic     Reaction 

under,  567-569. 

— ,  Marriage  with  Philip 


II.,  570. 

— ,  Death  of,  573. 


Mary  Stuart,  348,  578,  579. 

-,  in   Scotland,   583- 


589- 


Darnley,  585. 


— ,   her  Marriage  with 


Imprisonment    in 


England,  589,  590. 

-,  Trial  of,  597. 


,  Execution  of,  598. 

Massacre    of  St.    Bartholomew, 

366,  369-374,  593. 
in  the  Valteline,  498. 


Massacre  of  Vassy,  360. 

of  Protestants   in  Ire- 
land, 643. 

Matthias,  Emperor,  413. 

Maurice  of  Saxony,  200-209. 

,  Distrust  of,  212, 

217. 

• ,  his  Treachery  to 

the  Emperor,  226-231. 

Maximilian  I.,  29-32. 

Maximilian  II.,  407. 

Melancthon,  26. 

Miltitz,  20-22. 

Monopolies,  608. 

Mooker  Haide,  Battle  of,  332. 

Miihlberg,  Battle  of,  213. 

Miinzer,  Thomas,  102. 

Mutiny  of  the  Army  against  Par- 
liament, 667. 

Naseby,  Battle  of,  664. 
Navigation  Act,  68 1. 
Netherlands,  Revolt  of  the,  288. 
Newbury,  Battle  of,  654. 
Nordlingen,  Battle  of,  516,  517. 
Norfolk,  Duke  of,  his  Conspiracy, 

591,  592. 

Northumberland,  Duke  of,  562. 
Nuremberg,  Peace  of,  124. 

Orange,  William  of,  290-292,  304, 
306,  310-312,  321,  322,  330. 

,  as  Stadtholder,  342. 

,  Estimate  of,  342. 

,  Assassination,  343. 

Otto  von  Pack,  113. 
Oxenstierna,  481,  501,  504,  505. 

Pardon  Tickets,  17. 

Parliamentary  Army,  The,  649. 

Paul  IV.,  Pope,  572. 

Pavia,  Battle  of,  58. 

Peace  of  Augsburg,  403-405. 

Barcelona,  112. 

Madrid,  106. 

Nuremberg,  124. 

Prague,  520-522. 

St.   Germain   en   Laye, 


363. 

Westphalia,  546-559. 

Peasantry,  Oppression  of,  93. 

Peasants'  War,  92. 

,  Twelve  Articles,  96. 


INDEX. 


701 


Peasants,  Defeat  of  the,  104. 

Petition  of  Right,  622. 

Philip  of  Hesse,  121,  187. 

,  Arrest  of,  214. 

,  his  Base  Treat- 
ment of  two  princes,  222-225. 

Philip  II.,  276,  279-281. 
,  his  Policy,  282. 

Pilsen,  Bond  of,  511,  512. 

Plot   of  Savage  and    Babington, 

596- 

Pole,  Cardinal,  568. 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  221. 
Prague,  Peace  of,  520-522. 
Presbyterians,  655. 
Pride's  Purge,  670. 
Protectorate,  The,  562. 
Protest  of  Parliament,  1621,  612. 
Protestantism  in  Austria,  407. 
,  635. 


Ratisbon,  Convention  of,  91. 
Reformation  in  England,  comple- 
tion of,  560. 
under  Edward  VI., 

KO  \ — st)  ^. 

in    Scotland,     579, 


in  Switzerland,  125. 
-,  Results  of  up  to 


580. 


1555.  236-240. 
Reformed  Zurich,  136. 
Religious  Wars  in  France,  345- 

401. 

Republic,  End  of  the,  695. 
Requesens  y  Zuniga,  331. 
,  his  Death, 

335- 
Restoration  in  Wiirtemberg,  182, 

183. 

Reuchlin,  19,  77. 
Revolt  of  the  Netherlands,  285. 
Richelieu,  Cardinal,  465,466,  488- 

492. 

• ~,    his     policy, 

.      492-498. 

Riots  at  Edinburgh,  632. 
Rizzio,  David,  586,  587. 
Royal  Charter  of  Bohemia,  409, 

410. 

Rudolph  II.,  408-410,  413. 
Rudyard,  Speeches  of,  617,  621. 


St.  Germain  en  Laye,  Peace  of, 

363- 

Saxony,  Duke  George  of,  189. 

Schmalkald  League,  123, 180, 182. 

War,  196. 

Sea  Beggars,  326,  329,  333. 

Seven  teen  Provinces  of  the  Nether- 
lands, 285-290. 

Seymour,  Duke  of  Somerset,  562. 

Ship  Money,  628. 

Siege  of  Leyden,  333. 

Magdeburg,  469. 

Six  Articles  of  1539  in  England, 
I78. 

Sorbonne,  The,  350,  351. 

Spain  under  Charles  V.  and 
Philip  II.,  280-282. 

Spanish  Armada,  598-601. 

Marriage  Scheme,  613, 

614. 

Star  Chamber,  The,  626,  627. 

Stemmata,  378,  379. 

Stettin,  Occupation  of,  464. 

Strafford,  Earl  of,  625. 

.  ,  Trial  and  Execution  of, 

638-640. 

Stuarts,  The,  583. 

Subjugation  of  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land, 677,  678. 

Sully,  396-400. 

Tax  of  loth  Penny,  324. 

Tetzel,  II. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  First  Phase 

of,  4I5-443- 

-,  Second  Phase 


of,  444-482. 
of,  483-536. 


545- 


-,  Third  Phase 
-,  End  of,  537- 
-,  Barbarities 


during,  557. 


— ,     Devastation 


caused  by,  557. 
Tonnage  and  Poundage,  618,  619, 

623. 

Torstenson,  539,  540. 
Transubstantiation,  119. 
Treaty  of  Barwald,  466. 

Cappel,  140. 

Cognac,  1 10. 

Turks  before  Vienna,  116. 


702 


INDEX. 


Ulrich  von  Hutten,  25,  72-75. 
,  his  Writings, 

76. 
,  his  Philippics 

against  Ulrich  of  Wurtemberg, 

76. 
,  as  a  Reformer, 


80. 


and    Luther, 

,  his  Death,  87. 

Ulrich  of  Wurtemberg,  Duke,  181. 
Ultimatum  of  Parliament,  562. 
Utretch,  Union  of,  341,  342. 

Valois,  House  of,  346,  347. 
Viglius,  295,  303. 
Vinet,  246. 


Wallenstein,   431-438,    441-443, 

505-51 •• 

,  Dismissal  of,  442. 

,    Recall    of,    477, 

478. 
,    Assassination  of, 

512,  513. 

War  of  the  three  Henrys,  378. 
Westphalia,  Peace  of,  262-279. 
Winter  Kingdom,  The,  42O-A23. 
Worcester,  Battle  of,  679. 
Wrangel,  General,  542. 

Znaym,  Treaty  of,  478,  479. 
Zurich  and  the  Forest  Cantons, 

138- 

Zwingli,  125-130. 
,  Death  of,  141. 


THE  ENS. 


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